A 24-year-old, Bakura Modu, has emerged as the new leader of Boko Haram, which controls the Lake Chad region and the Sambisa forest in Borno State.
The emergence of Modu is coming a month after the reported death of its erstwhile leader, Abubakar Shekau, who was allegedly killed after a clash between his men and fighters of the Islamic State West Africa Province, (ISWAP).
Recall that reported that on 19th May, Shekau detonated a bomb and killed himself when he observed that the ISWAP fighters wanted to capture him alive.
Modu, who appeared in a video, spoke of the readiness of the group to work with the International State in Iraq and Syria.
His statement, which was in Arabic, was said to have confirmed the death of the erstwhile leader, as he prayed for Allah to forgive the shortcomings of the former spiritual leader and called on fighters who had been with Shekau not to lose heart but to brace up with realities and find their ways to the fold.
The new leader, who was seen surrounded in the video by top commanders of a former spiritual leader Abubakar Shelby, was allegedly said to have led a fight to ISWAP camp killing many fighters and top commanders loyal to Abu Musab Al-Haznawi.
Speaking to the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) Hausa service, a security analyst, Barr. Audu Bulama Bukarti, of UK-based Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said this is an opportunity for the Nigerian military to cash on the infighting amongst the terrorist group to finish them once and for all.
