Nigerian Army places N3m bounty on Abubakar Shekau

The Nigerian Army Thursday said it has placed a N3-million reward on information that could lead to the arrest of ‘fugitive’ Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

Shekau, the army said, is on the run, disguised as a woman after his Sambisa hideout was bombarded by the troops of Operation Lafiya Dole.


“The Nigerian Army will give out Three Million Naira (N3,000,000.00k) cash reward for any credible information that leads to the arrest of Abubakar Shekau,” army spokes Sani Usman said.

The army said on Tuesday that credible information from arrested and surrendered insurgents indicated that Shekau could “not bear the heat anymore as he has abandoned his followers, he is running for his dear life.”

“He is desperately trying to escape the theatre disguised as a woman dressed in Hijab. We reliably gathered that to avoid detection Abubakar Shekau alternates between blue and black coloured hijabs,” Usman said in a statement.

Shekau has been on the list of hundred most wanted Boko Haram members since October 2015.

He appeared in a video earlier this month with a vow to sustain the insurgents’ violent campaigns, which began in 2009, in Nigeria’s northeast.

“The person that believes in nationalism is the one we are at war with, the person who believes in disseminating western education, which is replete with unbelief, is the one we fight”, Shekau said in the 11-minute video.

The video was released a couple of days after the commander of the troops fighting the terror group claimed that the group had been totally defeated.