Army needs to kill Boko Haram leader or just shut it

The claim by the Nigerian army that Boko Haram kingpin Abubakar Shekau is "mentally unstable" and "has derailed..because he no longer believes and practices the Islam he professes to follow", is sickening.

No one wants to know how religious Shekau has become or the state of his mental health. We just want him DEAD.

In August, the army told the Nigerian people that Shekau has been "fatally wounded".

Colonel Sani Usman, acting Director, Army Public Relations had said: "In what one could describe as the most unprecedented and spectacular air raid, we have just confirmed that as a result of the interdiction efforts of the Nigerian Air Force, some key leaders of the Boko Haram terrorists have been killed while others were fatally wounded.

"The air interdiction took place last week Friday 19th August 2016, while the terrorists were performing Friday rituals at Taye village, Gombale general area within Sambisa forest, Borno State."

He added: "Those Boko Haram terrorists commanders confirmed dead include Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman, amongst others. While their leader, so called “Abubakar Shekau”, is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders. Several other terrorists were also wounded."

In September, a "fatally wounded" Shekau is happily directing his own movie from the Sambisa studios.

Usman was back to issuing his press statements again as soon as Shekau's new video hit cyberspace.

“The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to a video clip released by the so-called Abubakar Shekau faction of the remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists group this morning.

“In it, the purported leader of the group in his usual insane manner made all sorts of assertions to the point of threatening various towns, groups and individuals. He also tried, albeit failingly, to deny the air raid by the Nigerian Air Force in which he was wounded.

“The video has shown beyond all reasonable doubt the earlier suspicion that the purported factional terrorists group leader is mentally sick and unstable. The ranting is also another sign that the end is near for him which is part of the signs of all wicked people.

“The Nigerian Army wishes to assure the public that they should not be bothered by the contents of the video clip. This is because the facts on the ground speak for themselves.

“It is public knowledge that the military has been making concerted efforts to clear the remnants of the terrorists and rescue all persons held hostage by them especially the abducted Chibok Secondary School girls. This is a task that will be accomplished, no matter how long it takes. We are determined in this regards. Already thousands of persons have been rescued by troops from the terrorists.

“The video has further shown that he has derailed and no longer believes and practices the Islam he professes to follow; as he was absent at the last Eid prayers video. It is equally reported that he could not even lead prayers. The public should not be fooled by this individual.”

Seriously, who cares about whether Shekau could lead prayers or not? Like, who gives a flying rat's a** if the man is an atheist? Who cares about his piety or lack of it?

The military has made considerable gains against the Boko Haram sect in recent times--claiming back whole communities, rescuing hundreds of captives, pushing back the terrorists and limiting the bloody sect to soft targets which are now few and far between.

There is little doubt that Boko Haram has been decimated. Now, we need to finish the job.

The last thing our service men require is to trade words with the chief villain of the sect or engage in needless propaganda to score cheap points. The military had once claimed Shekau didn't exist. They thereafter went from Shekau not existing to saying he's got a body double. We've also been regaled with tales of Shekau being killed and then he resurfaces in new videos with more expletives to boot.

This has got to stop. At this point, only a dead Shekau will be good enough.