“We are safe. We have not been flushed out of anywhere” – Abubakar Shekau Reportedly Releases new Video

Abubakar Shekau | File Photo

Factional leader of the Boko Haram terrorist sect, Abubakar Shekau has reportedly released a video claiming that the group has not been flushed out of its headquarters in Sambisa Forest, AFP reports.

“We are safe. We have not been flushed out of anywhere. And tactics and strategies cannot reveal our location except if Allah wills by his decree,” AFP quoted Shekau as saying.

“You should not be telling lies to the people. If you indeed crushed us, how can you see me like this? How many times have you killed us in your bogus death?” Shekau said, referring to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking in Hausa and Arabic, Shekau said the video was shot on Christmas Day, one day after President Buhari broke the news that the terrorist sect’s last known stronghold had fallen.

Shekau, who was reportedly surrounded by armed fighters in the video, also debunked the claim that he was wounded in battle, saying that “the war is not yet over” until an Islamic State was imposed in Northern Nigeria.

“There is still more (war),” Shekau said, urging followers “fight and kill infidels.”

“Our aim is to establish an Islamic Caliphate and we have our own Caliphate, we are not part of Nigeria,” Shekau was quoted as saying.

However, there is no record of the video, written by an AFP reporter in Kano, on the internet.