A man purporting to be the leader of Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, denied the Islamist militant group has been pushed out of its stronghold in the Sambisa forest.
President Muhammadu Buhari said on Saturday that Boko Haram’s last enclave in the forest, a former game reserve in northeast Nigeria, had been captured in the “final crushing” of the group.
Reuters has been unable to independently verify that the area was captured.
“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,” the man identifying himself as Shekau said in a video seen by Reuters yesterday.
“If you indeed crushed us, how can you see me like this? How many times have you killed us in your bogus death?” he added in the 25-minute video during which he spoke in the Hausa language and Arabic.
“You should not be telling lies to the people,” he said, referring to Buhari’s statement.
Nigeria’s military has in recent years said it has killed or wounded Shekau on multiple occasions.
Such statements have often swiftly been followed by video denials by someone who says he is Shekau, but poor footage makes it hard to confirm if the person is the same man as in previous videos.
Shekau vowed to continue fighting on until an Islamic state was imposed in northern Nigeria.
“The war is not over yet. There is still more,” he said, vowing no “respite” for Nigerians.
He urged followers around the world to “fight and kill infidels”.
“Our aim is to establish an Islamic Caliphate and we have our own Caliphate, we are not part of Nigeria.”
A military spokesman, in a text message, said a comment would be issued in due course.
Boko Haram, which last year pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group, has been in the grip of a power struggle.
The IS high command said in August that Shekau had been replaced as leader by Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the 22-year-old son of Boko Haram’s founder Mohammed Yusuf.
The fresh video came after Buhari announced that a months-long military campaign in the 1,300sq km (500sq mile) forest in northeastern Borno state had led to the “final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa Forest”.
The government in Abuja and the military have frequently claimed victories against the militants but access to the epicentre of the conflict is strictly controlled, making independent verification virtually impossible.
Attacks have meanwhile continued, casting doubt over claims that Boko Haram has been defeated, despite undoubted progress in pushing back the group.