Photograph — thenerveafrica.com

The only thing the Nigerian Army seems to want people to understand is that it has a great command of the English language. Since this morning, when the Nigerian Army announced that the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, had been ‘fatally wounded,’ there have been questions surrounding the validity of this claim. Citizens are not in for a repeat of the same assertion made by the military three years ago, where they stated that they had ‘mortally wounded’ Shekau, and this eventually led to his death.

At about 1:00am on Tuesday, the Nigerian Army stated, on its Twitter page, that a Nigerian Air Force raid had killed some Boko Haram commanders. The same tweet also revealed that Abubakar Shekau has been ‘fatally wounded.’

In addition to the Army’s social media announcement, it later published an account of how the raid may have injured the wanted Boko Haram leader.

“In what one could describe as the most unprecedented and spectacular air raid, we have just confirmed that as a result of the interdiction efforts of the Nigerian Air Force, some key leaders of the Boko Haram terrorists have been killed while others were fatally wounded.

“The air interdiction took place last week Friday 19th August 2016, while the terrorists were performing Friday rituals at Taye village, Gombale general area within Sambisa forest, Borno State. Those Boko Haram terrorists commanders confirmed dead include Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman, amongst others; while their leader, so called “Abubakar Shekau,” is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders. Several other terrorists were also wounded,” the statement from the Nigerian Army read.

In 2013, shortly after US authorities declared Abubakar Shekau wanted and placed a $7 million bounty on his head, the Nigerian Army announced that Shekau had been shot, when soldiers raided a Boko Haram base at Sambisa Forest in north-eastern Nigeria. “Shekau was mortally wounded in the encounter and was sneaked into Amitchide – a border community in Cameroon for treatment…It is greatly believed that Shekau may have died between 25 July to 3 August 2013,” Sagir Musa, who was the Spokesman of the Nigerian Army 7th Division, told the BBC.

Later in September 2014, more than a year after Shekau was said to have been killed, the Nigerian Army issued an official statement for the first time, declaring that Shekau was truly killed the year before and that it has recently killed one Mohammed Bashir who had been posing in videos as the deceased Abubakar Shekau. During that period, the argument that ensued between the Nigerian Army and its Cameroonian colleagues led many to believe that Shekau was truly dead. A Cameroon military source declared, with photo evidence that the country’s army killed the Boko Haram leader following an aerial bombardment of his hideout within Nigeria.

However, the latest statement by the Nigerian Army squashes claims that Shekau died back in 2013 and, at the same time, throws up another argument concerning what ‘fatally wounded’ actually means. Evan Case, a screenwriter, explained on Home Theater Forum that “fatally wounded means you don’t die right away, but you will later as a result of your injuries.” So, is the Nigerian Army saying Shekau is as good as dead, like it did 3 years ago?

If the Army cannot confirm whether or not Shekau is dead, it doesn’t have to lie about it because Nigerians will appreciate true accounts of the operations in the North-East better.

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