{"id":27465,"date":"2016-08-05T02:29:37","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T02:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/boko-haram-in-nigeria-split-emerges-over\/"},"modified":"2016-08-05T02:29:30","modified_gmt":"2016-08-05T02:29:30","slug":"boko-haram-in-nigeria-split-emerges-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/boko-haram-in-nigeria-split-emerges-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Boko Haram in Nigeria: Split emerges over leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

{The disputed leader of Boko Haram has said he is still in charge of Nigeria’s militant Islamist group despite a statement by so-called Islamic State that he had been replaced.
\nAbubakar Shekau denounced the IS declaration that Abu Musab al-Barnawi was now leader.}<\/p>\n

Shekau accused al-Barnawi of trying to stage a coup against him.<\/p>\n

Boko Haram is fighting to overthrow Nigeria’s government and establish an Islamic State in the north.<\/p>\n

In the last 18 months it has lost most of the territory it had controlled after being pushed back by an offensive by the forces of Nigeria and its neighbours.<\/p>\n

Shekau was last heard from in an audio message last August, saying he was alive and had not been replaced – an IS video released in April said the same.<\/p>\n

In a 10-minute audio message in both Arabic and Hausa, Shekau appeared to distance Boko Haram from IS, but still called its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi “caliph”.<\/p>\n

He said that some in Boko Haram had stopped him communicating with al-Baghdadi.<\/p>\n

“I was asked to send my ideology in writing to the caliph but it was manipulated by some people in order to achieve their own selfish interests,” he added, describing a coup attempt against him.<\/p>\n

He said he had sent eight different letters to IS leaders but they did not act on them, only to hear the news that he had been replaced.<\/p>\n

He then described al-Barnawi and his followers as polytheist.<\/p>\n

Boko Haram has split before but this is the most serious division to date.<\/p>\n

Abubakar Shekau’s outburst clearly shows that there are deep disagreements, which could translate into clashes between the foot soldiers loyal to the two leaders.<\/p>\n

It is also a sign of the weakness of the group, possibly foreshadowing an eventual collapse.<\/p>\n

Military officials say the split is an indication that the group is breathing its last.<\/p>\n

But some security analysts caution that the internal wrangling could make it more deadly and unpredictable.<\/p>\n

Nigeria and the other regional forces will now need to turn this factionalism to their advantage.<\/p>\n

Shekau had been accused of hoarding food and ammunition and also of driving away IS military advisers.<\/p>\n

BBC’s Abuja bureau editor Naziru Mikailu says this split is likely to have a major impact on the way the group operates and could be a turning point in the fight against the insurgents.<\/p>\n

Shekau took over as the group’s leader after its founder, Muhammad Yusuf, died in Nigerian police custody in July 2009.<\/p>\n

Under his leadership Boko Haram became more radical, carried out more killings and swore allegiance to IS in March 2015.<\/p>\n

{{Boko Haram at a glance:}}<\/p>\n

Founded in 2002, initially focused on opposing Western-style education<\/p>\n

Launched military operations in 2009<\/p>\n

Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, hundreds abducted, including at least 200 schoolgirls<\/p>\n

Joined so-called Islamic State, calls itself IS’s “West African province”<\/p>\n

Seized large area in north-east, where it declared caliphate<\/p>\n

Regional force has retaken most territory<\/p>\n

In numerous videos, Shekau taunted the Nigerian authorities, celebrating the group’s violent acts, including the abduction of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls in April 2014.<\/p>\n

Nigeria’s army has claimed to have killed him on several occasions, and he has not appeared in a video since Boko Haram aligned itself with IS.<\/p>\n

\"Abubakar<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{The disputed leader of Boko Haram has said he is still in charge of Nigeria’s militant Islamist group despite a statement by so-called Islamic State that he had been replaced. Abubakar Shekau denounced the IS declaration that Abu Musab al-Barnawi was now leader.} Shekau accused al-Barnawi of trying to stage a coup against him. Boko […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[249],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-27465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-bbc"],"bylines":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"contributors":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27465"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=27465"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=27465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}