Abubakar Shekau (1970-19 May 2021) was the Emir of Boko Haram from 2009 to 2021, succeeding Mohammed Yusuf. Shekau was once loyal to the Islamic State as Boko Haram leader, but he split from the group to lead Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati wal Jihad, rivaling Abu Musab al-Barnawi's main faction; in 2021, he blew himself up at his house to evade capture by ISIL.
Biography[]
Shekau in 2016
Abubakar Shekau was a Kanuri from Yobe State, Nigeria, and he studied Islam under a traditional cleric in his home village of Shekau. He married one of the four wives of Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf and became a Salafi jihadist like Yusuf, and in 2009 he took over Boko Haram after Yusuf's death.
Boko Haram leader[]
Shekau on 5 May 2017
Shekau was responsible for the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls from Chibok, and planned to sell them as sex slaves. In 2015 he was responsible for the Baga Massacre in Borno State of northeastern Nigeria, resulting in the deaths of as much as 2,000 people. Shekau had several body doubles, and one security analyst claimed that he "died more than an iPhone battery" due to numerous false reports of his death in battle. On 8 July 2016, he emerged as the leader of Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati wal Jihad, a faction of Boko Haram that split from the Islamic State due to Shekau's refusal to stop using child suicide bombers. On 23 August 2016, the Nigerian Air Force claimed that Shekau had suffered fatal wounds to his shoulders during a bombing raid on northeastern Nigeria, which had also claimed the lives of other senior militants. On 5 May 2017, he appeared in a video to disprove a claim that he had been injured in another airstrike.
On 20 May 2021, Nigerian intelligence officials claimed that Shekau had killed himself in a suicide bombing in his house to avoid capture by ISIL, and that several other Boko Haram militants were also killed. On 21 May, The Wall Street Journal concluded that Shekau had died after detonating a suicide vest. It was later revealed that Shekau had been taking part in surrender negotiations with ISWAP over recognizing Abu Musab al-Barnawi's authority following ISWAP's takeover of the Sambisa Forest, and that, in the middle of the negotiations, a defiant Shekau blew himself up and killed a senior ISWAP commander in the process. On 15 June 2021, his faction confirmed his death and swore vengeance.