Rev Desmond Yunana of the Anglican Church in Borno, northeast Nigeria, says Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is critically ill and needs the prayers of well meaning Nigerians to stay alive.

Shekau and his terrorist Boko Haram sect have killed more than 50,000 people and displaced millions from their homes since 2009.

In December of 2020, a captured Boko Haram fighter, teenager Mohammed Adam, disclosed that Shekau has lost the use of his legs and has been crippled.

Delivering a sermon during Sunday service last week, Yunana said he had a “revelation” that Shekau's health condition is deteriorating by the day and that only prayers from the same Nigerians whose families he's killed and maimed, would keep him alive.

The Rev stressed that prayers from Christians and Muslims resident in Maiduguri are of utmost importance here; and that the terrorist leader is ready to seek for forgiveness.

In recent times, Shekau has not been seen standing upright in his propaganda videos.

The terrorist is often videotaped sat on a mat, surrounded by some of his top aides and foot-soldiers, guns and armoury flaunted and drawn for effect.

Nigeria's federal government has been trying to capture or annihilate Shekau and end the insurgency he spearheads, since 2009.