The Nigerian Army on Thursday said it was studying a video purportedly released by Abubakar Shekau dismissing claims of his death.
According to a statement posted in Nigerian Defence Headquarters, DHQ’s website, the Army said the video should be dismissed, stressing that the terrorists were only trying to either manipulate pictures or trying to prove invincible by uploading a pre-recorded video.
“The video also did not make any reference to anything that has happened since the impostor’s reported death. It should not surprise anybody if the terrorists decide to manipulate pictures, clone another Shekau or upload a pre-recorded video all in a bid to prove invincible.
As far as we are concerned, the individual who was appearing in video and claiming to be the leader of the terrorist group was killed in the Kondunga battle in September,” the statement read.
While stressing that resemblance of the corpse and Shekau was incontrovertible, DHQ said his identity was corroborated by people who knew him. “The resemblance of the corpse and that of the eccentric character was incontrovertible. His identity was equally corroborated by people who knew him before we announced his death,’’ the statement added.
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