FOLLOWING relentless onslaught by Nigerian troops, many members of the Boko Haram terrorists group are beginning to surrender voluntarily.
Some of them submitted themselves and their weapons to the leadership of the troops in Konduga, during a further campaign at the weekend.
A security source told the Nigerian Tribune that so far, over 40 Boko Haram insurgents had surrendered their weapons and had confirmed to the authorities that their leader, Abubakar Shekau, was killed in the Konduga attack.
He told the Nigerian Tribune that Shekau, who was moved by the killing of one of his commanders in Bama town of Borno State, had ordered a full scale war on the military, before he met his death at Konduga.
According to him, “many of the insurgents have no more courage to fight again. Now that they know that Shekau had been killed, many of them are now surrendering their arms. I believe we are coming to the end of insurgency in the North-East.”
The Defence Headquarters, in its Twitter handle, said “as the heat on the terrorists continues, five terrorists surrendered with all their weapons to troops at Konduga, pleading for mercy on Saturday.”
Other captured terrorists, who refused to surrender, had also been giving useful information on the subsequent plans of the group in an apparent offer to cooperate.
In the last few days, there have been several attempts by terrorists desperate to gain entry to Konduga, which the Nigerian troops had continued to foil.
It was gathered that the move by the terrorists was aimed at recovering bodies of prominent fighters who had died in the previous encounters in the area.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian troops have recovered more weapons during the mop-up operations while some of their (terrorists’) vehicles have been destroyed.
Meanwhile, Boko Haram issue has been confirmed to be one of the issues President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to present at the 69th Session of the United Nations (UN) Assembly holding in New York, United States, on Wednesday.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, who hinted this in a statement, said Jonathan would “address the UN Security Council High-Level Session on Threats to International Peace and Security Caused By Terrorist Acts.”
President Jonathan left Abuja, on Sunday, to attend the UN General Assembly, where he is also expected to attend receptions to be hosted by President Barack Obama of the United States, British Prime Minister, David Cameron and the Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon.
President Jonathan is billed to present Nigeria’s statement to the General Assembly on Wednesday.
Abati, in the release, said the President would stop over in London for a brief private visit before proceeding to New York.
He also noted that the president “is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Ban and the British Prime Minister, Cameron.”
President Jonathan is expected back in the country on Thursday.
Shekau, Finally Dead?
Nigerian troops might have scored a strategic victory in the current battle against terrorists operating in the North-East on September 17.
During a desperate attempt to capture Konduga in their delusion to eventually marching on and capturing Maiduguri, the man who had been mimicking the late Abubakar Shekau in recent videos might have been finally killed.
According to senior military and intelligence sources, “it is getting more certain that the terrorists’ commander, who has been mimicking Shekau in those videos, is the one killed in Konduga on September 17, 2014.”
The sources said the suspected demise of the Boko Haram leader is responsible for the scattering of the sect members in different independent locations in the neighbouring countries, especially Cameroon, in recent days.
The security sources did not deny the suspicion but cautioned that “the process of confirming that the dead body we have is the same as that character who has been posing as Shekau is ongoing. He is definitely a prominent terrorist commander. I don’t want to say anything about this yet please.”
Another high ranking military source insisted that the resemblance is too striking to be a coincidence. They cited his facial marks, beards and teeth, apart from the recovery by the Nigerian troops of some of the Armoured Vehicles and Hilux jeeps that had featured in previous videos of the prime suspect.
The officers assured that the Defence Headquarters will soon address the nation after full investigation of their latest discovery.
Source: Tribune
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