Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Islamist militant group Boko Haram, was reported to appear in a fresh propaganda video dismissing claims of his killing by the Nigerian military.
The video was allegedly obtained by the French news agency AFP and published on YouTube, Thursday October 2nd.
In the video, Shekau takes a swipe at President Jonathan making statements like; “Here I am alive. The wish of Obama will not kill me, the wish of Ban ki Moon will not kill me, the wish of Queen Elizabeth will not kill me, not to talk of the laggard Jonathan.”
The Boko Haram leader said his sect had instituted sharia rule across areas captured by his fighters in the northeastern parts of Nigeria. Last month, Boko Haram militants captured several towns including Gwoza which the group named as its headquarters.
The Nigerian and Cameroonian military authorities recently claimed they had killed Mr. Shekau during a battle in Konduga near Maiduguri. There were however, reports that the Boko Haram figure who was killed was one Mohammed Bashir.
Nigerian military officials insisted that Mr. Shekau was a nick name assumed by Mr. Bashir and several other Islamist insurgent killed in operations by the Nigerian military.