37 Facts About Abubakar Shekau

Abubakar Mohammed Shekau was a Nigerian militant who was the leader of Boko Haram, an Islamist extremist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, from 2009 to 2021.

Abubakar Shekau served as deputy leader to the group's founder, Mohammed Yusuf, until Yusuf's execution in 2009.

Nigerian authorities believed that Shekau was killed in 2009 during clashes between security forces and Boko Haram until July 2010, when Shekau appeared in a video claiming leadership of the group.

Abubakar Shekau had subsequently been regularly reported dead and was thought to use doubles.

Abubakar Shekau has been criticized by human rights advocates for terrorism, bombings, forced conversions and kidnapping.

In March 2015 Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Abubakar Shekau's loyalists were called Boko Haram and al-Barnawi's loyalists were known as Islamic State's West Africa Province.

Abubakar Shekau was a Salafi, until 2016, when he ended his relation to ISIL.

Abubakar Shekau killed himself on 19 May 2021 by detonating a suicide vest during the battle of Sambisa Forest between Boko Haram and Islamic State's West Africa Province.

Abubakar Shekau's death was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and was confirmed by Nigerian officials, ISWAP, and his surviving loyalists.

Abubakar Mohammed Shekau was born on 23 March 1973 in the Nigerian village of Shekau in the Tarmuwa local government of Yobe State.

Abubakar Shekau's father was Mohammed Shekau, a local district imam, and his mother was Falmata Abubakar.

Almajirai often beg on the street for food, and it is believed Abubakar Shekau did the same.

Abubakar Shekau reportedly received formal Islamic education in a local religious school known as a tsangaya from a cleric named Baba Fani.

Abubakar Shekau was an ethnic Kanuri, and spoke Hausa, Fulani, Arabic, and English.

Abubakar Shekau reportedly had a photographic memory, and devoted much of his time in BOCOLIS to developing his self-taught interpretation of Islam.

Abubakar Shekau later met Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of Jamaat Ahlus Sunnah li Dawah wal Jihad, and became one of his deputies.

Abubakar Shekau was appointed the leader of the group in July 2009, after the death of Yusuf in the 2009 Boko Haram uprising.

Abubakar Shekau survived being shot in the leg during the 2009 attempt on his life by Nigerian security forces.

Abubakar Shekau was married to one of Muhammad Yusuf's four widows.

Abubakar Shekau's nickname was "Darul Tawheed", which translates as "specialist in tawheed", the Islamic concept of oneness of Allah.

Abubakar Shekau received a letter from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb giving him advice but he did not heed it.

Abubakar Shekau was thought to have killed his own religious advisors, including Sheikh Abd al-Malek al-Ansari al-Kadunawi and Abu al-Abbas al-Bankiwani.

In videos Abubakar Shekau posted online, he boasted often about his invincibility; mocked various armies; and stated that he "cannot be stopped" and "cannot die except by the will of Allah".

Abubakar Shekau has boasted of being in possession of armoured tanks and other combat vehicles.

Abubakar Shekau announced that the kidnapped girls have been converted to Islam.

Abubakar Shekau has claimed to be waging a jihad against Christianity.

Abubakar Shekau threatened to attack participants in the 2015 Nigerian general election.

Abubakar Shekau refused to recognise Barnawi's authority and split off part of the group under its original name of Jamaat Ahlus Sunnah li Dawah wal Jihad, while Barnawi led the "Islamic State's West Africa Province".

Abubakar Shekau has been widely denounced as following the ideology of the Khawarij by the Islamic State and West Africa province in Nigeria.

Abubakar Shekau was reported killed in 2009 but reappeared as the group leader less than a year later.

However, a video in September 2013 was released in which a man purported to be Abubakar Shekau claimed he had not been killed.

Chadian President Idriss Deby claimed in mid-August 2015 that Abubakar Shekau had been replaced by Mahamat Daoud without exactly specifying his fate.

An audio message attributed to Abubakar Shekau was released a few days later, in which he purportedly stated that he had neither been killed nor ousted as chief of the group.

Abubakar Shekau was reported to have been "fatally wounded" during an airstrike in Taye village on 19 August 2016 by Nigerian Air Force which killed some senior leaders of Boko Haram.

On 27 June 2017, Abubakar Shekau released a video in which he claimed responsibility for the abduction of Nigerian policewomen and criticized the Nigerian government for claiming that Boko Haram had been defeated.

In February 2020, Abubakar Shekau released a video threatening the minister of information and digital economy, Isa Ali Pantami, and making reference to what was done to Islamic scholar Ja'afar Mahmud Adam in Maiduguri when he preached against Boko Haram, Bulama Bukarti, explained why Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau threatened the Minister in an interview with the BBC.