By Ameh Ejekwonyilo
Abuja
With the Defence Headquarters’ statement on Wednesday indicating the killing of a notorious top terrorists’ commander, Abu Mojahid, amongst scores of others in the outskirts of Alagarno on Tuesday morning, there is anxiety over the whereabouts of their supreme leader, Abubakar Shekau.
A military source said since the declaration of the final push against the insurgents in the middle of February, and directive to clear all terrorists’ camps before May 29 handover date, federal troops have been on the lookout for Shekau and other commanders of Boko Haram.
The source said: “The guy simply disappeared from the radar. Even his communications through Thuraya satellite phones that are usually monitored have disappeared and it is like the guy suddenly vanished. We wish we can catch him alive.”
The last that was heard of Shekau was the unverified broadcast pledging allegiance to Islamic State (IS), early in March, which was posted on Boko Haram’s Twitter account. In that broadcast, he also vowed to disrupt the rescheduled elections.
Shekau was quoted to have said in Hausa: “This election will not be held even if we are dead. Even if we are not alive Allah will never allow you to do it.”
Despite the threats, the group was unable to disrupt the general elections as polls were conducted reasonably peacefully throughout the country on March 28 and April 11.
Since asking for a six-week extension to the date of 2015 general elections in February, Nigerian troops have essentially flushed out the insurgents from the 21 local government areas they occupied in three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
The military has invaded the notorious forest hideouts of terrorists and is systematically combing them to clear the entire Nigerian territory of terrorist elements.