Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said Sunday that Boko Haram leader
\nAbubakar Shekau is “wounded”, in his first comments on military claims
\nthat the jihadi leader was injured in an attack.<\/p>\n
Nigeria’s armed forces said on Tuesday that Shekau had been wounded in an
\nair strike on Boko Haram’s forest stronghold, but released no further
\nstatement or evidence confirming his condition.<\/p>\n
“We learnt that in an air strike by the Nigeria Air Force he was wounded,”
\nBuhari said in a statement from Nairobi, where he is attending a
\ndevelopment conference.<\/p>\n
“Indeed their top hierarchy and lower cadre have a problem,” Buhari said.
\n“They are not holding any territory and they have split to small groups
\nattacking soft targets.”<\/p>\n
Buhari said that Shekau had been “edged out” of the group, adding credence
\nto claims that Islamic State (IS)-appointed Abu Musab al-Barnawi was now
\nin charge of the insurgency.<\/p>\n
Signs of a power struggle in the top echelons of the jihadi group appeared
\nearlier this month when Shekau released a video denying he had been
\nousted.<\/p>\n
Barnawi is believed to be the 22-year-old son of Boko Haram founder
\nMohammed Yusuf and was announced as the group’s leader in August by IS.<\/p>\n
Buhari made his remarks from Nairobi this weekend where he is attending
\nthe Tokyo International Conference on African Development, a summit
\ndesigned to boost ties between Africa and Japan.<\/p>\n
The president also said he “is prepared to talk to bona fide leaders of
\nBoko Haram” to negotiate the release of 218 Chibok girls captured by the
\nmilitants in 2014.<\/p>\n
Boko Haram has ravaged northeast Nigeria in its quest to create a
\nfundamentalist Islamic state, killing over 20,000 people and displacing
\n2.6 million from their homes.<\/p>\n
Turning to another major security concern in Nigeria, Buhari threatened
\nmilitants sabotaging oil infrastructure in the southern swamplands of the
\nNiger delta.<\/p>\n
“We will deal with them as we dealt with Boko Haram if they refuse to talk
\nto us,” Buhari said.<\/p>\n
The country’s petroleum minister has said that as a result of the ongoing
\nattacks Nigeria’s oil output has dropped 23 per cent from last year to 1.5
\nmillion barrels per day, according to Bloomberg News.<\/p>\n
Groups including the Niger Delta Avengers are demanding a greater share of
\noil revenues, political autonomy, and infrastructure development in the
\nsouthern riverlands where despite massive oil wealth people still struggle
\nto access basic health care and education.<\/p>\n
Buhari said his government was in talks with the some of the militants but
\nsaid there was no “ceasefire”, despite an announcement by the Avengers
\nlast week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said Sunday that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is “wounded”, in his first comments on military claims that the jihadi leader was injured in an attack.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n