Who is who in Boko Haram
Abubakar Shekau He is the leader of Boko Haram. He is said to be a fearless loner, a complex, paradoxical man - part intellectual, part gangster. Fondly called imam or leader by his followers, Abubakar Muhammad Shekau was born in Shekau village in Yobe State. Some say he is 34 or 35, others that he may be 43 - the uncertainty adds to the myths surrounding Nigeria’s most wanted man. Shekau was once thought to have been killed by security forces in 2009 - only for him to reappear in videos posted on the internet less than a year later as Boko Haram’s new leader. He has not been seen in public since. Instead, still images and video clips of him are released from time to time, mostly online, by the group’s faceless “public enlightenment department”. He is said to have met his predecessor in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State through a mutual friend, Mamman Nur, who is said to have masterminded the August 2011 bombing of the UN office complex in Abuja. Unde...