Sambisa forest, the last bastion of Boko Haram in the North East, has been decapitated on many fronts by troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon – with several of the Islamists killed or captured.
An aerial footage of the destruction showed some of terrorists scampering in different directions for safety during recent onslaughts.
However, TheNiche learnt that those arrested and quizzed by intelligence officers feigned ignorance of the whereabouts of their leader, Abubakar Shekau.
In the past two months, the sadistic leader of the dreaded sect has not released any youtube videos, one of his signature melodramas, even though there have been developments he would have normally reacted to.
This has fueled speculation that he may have been killed in one of the many raids on Boko Haram camps, especially in Gwoza, the tactical headquarters of the sect until it was dislodged in March.
In the build-up to the March 28 election, Shekau had boasted on a youtube video that election would not hold in Nigeria. It held with some minor disruptions from the terrorists in Gombe and Borno.
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, pledged in his acceptance speech on April 2 that Boko Haram would soon be defeated.
“I assure you that Boko Haram will soon know the strength of our collective will and commitment to rid this nation of terror and bring back peace,” he said.
Despite such threat from Buhari, no video was seen of Shekau belittling the Nigerian state and the President-elect, as he usually reacts.
On Thursday, April 30, President Goodluck Jonathan promised to hand-over Nigeria free of terrorists on May 29. Shekau failed to respond.
Early in March, a voice purportedly belonging to Shekau, claimed in an audio message that it has forged an allegiance with the Islamic State in Syria (ISIS).
The announcement was released in audio format, a departure from video clips he uses to communicate with the public.
Since its ISIS allegiance audio message, Boko Haram has not released any propaganda photograph or video footage of Shekau.
It has rather added something novel to its propaganda communication. Fighters of the sect, who hitherto did not reveal their faces, are now seen in group shots flaunting military hardware, including AK47, anti-aircraft rifles, and machine guns.
Previous Boko Haram propaganda images have not shown the faces of fighters. While the images released in early April showed foot soldiers toting guns and with their faces visible for the first time, Shekau was absent.
Boko Haram controls an estimated 15,000 fighters. But the bombardment on April 29 of its Sambisa forest hideout – approximately 60,000 square kilometers – has impacted on its strength.
From information gleaned at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), the end of Shekau, and his ragtag army may be in sight, if not a fait accompli.
“Today’s evening (Wednesday), troops of 7 Division Nigerian Army cleared several terrorists’ strong points and training camps within Sambisa forest, Borno State,” DHQ confirmed in a statement.
“The troops have also rescued 199 children and 68 women who claimed that they were abducted by the terrorists in Gumsiri and Damboa respectively in December 2014. They have been evacuated to a safety zone for further processing.
“During the encounter we unfortunately lost a soldier while 10 others were wounded in action. The troops have also killed several Boko Haram field commanders and foot soldiers and destroyed two Armoured Personnel Carriers, two Buffalo vehicles mounted with anti-aircraft guns, a truck and several Hilux vehicles.
“The gallant soldiers also recovered one anti-aircraft gun, one general purpose machine gun, one rocket propelled grenade and several AK-47 rifles.”
