Military Set To Capture Shekau Alive

onslaught against the insurgents in the northeast gathers
momentum, there are indications that the Nigerian military
is directing efforts towards capturing the leader of the
Boko Haram sect alive.
To this end, troops are said to have been placed on high
alert to apprehend Abubakar Shekau, who is reported to be
desperately trying to escape from the area.
The military is believed to have resolved to take Shekau
alive to put an end to insinuations of the invincibility of the
militant leader, especially against past announcements of
his demise by the military, which turned out not to have
been accurate.
In August 2013, the then spokesperson of the Force, Lt. Col.
Sagir Musa released a statement which said “intelligence
report available to the Joint Task Force Operation RESTORE
ORDER revealed that Abubakar Shekau, the most dreaded
and wanted Boko Haram Terrorists leader may have died”.
He added that Shekau “died of gunshot wound received in
an encounter with the JTF troops in one of their camps at
Sambisa Forest on 30 June 2013. Shekau was mortally
wounded in the encounter and was sneaked into Amitchide
– a border community in Cameroun for treatment which he
never recovered. It is greatly believed that Shekau might
have died between 25 July to 3 August, 2013”.
However, Shekau re-surfaced in a video a in September
2013.
The current efforts at routing the insurgents, whose
activities have claimed the lives of thousands of Nigerians,
is reportedly being led by top generals riding on the high
troops morale that has been boosted with the delivery of
sophisticated armaments.