Shekau on the run: 'escape may be aided by ISIS' - Military sources

With the massive and aggressive invasion and capture of the Nigerian troops on the sect’s strongholds, Sambisa Forest and Gwoza, Shekau presumably knows his capture is a matter of time.

According to Saturday Sun, his escape may have been aided by the Islamic State (ISIS) group.

The newspaper cited a reliable military intelligence as saying Shekau sent emissaries to ISIS affiliate with strongholds in East and North Africa to facilitate his escape to their region, from where he intends to coordinate his group’s activities or relocate to ISIS headquarters in the Middle East.

“Having discovered that he was being tracked through his Thuraya satellite phone, Shekau recently dropped the line and handset totally to evade capture. But the last satellite image of him and other intelligence pieced together by forces on the battle frontline show his desperation to escape from the country to parts of East Africa or North Africa where ISIS is having some footholds,” the source said.

The military source further stated, “as part of moves being made by Shekau, he now relocates with fewer guards and limited number of lieutenants knowing his movement schedule. This is to frustrate intelligence gathering efforts by security forces and avoid attracting the focus of satellite image capturing technology deployed by some foreign super powers and shared with the Nigerian security forces.”

It was learnt that the terror kingpin totally changed his looks in the last few weeks to evade the ongoing military onslaught in the north-East zone.

“A recent intelligence from one of our foreign partners shows the Boko Haram leader clean shaven which totally alters his look. That heightens our curiosity about his motive, before we got other evidence that pointed to the fact that he was trying to cross the border”, the source added.

Shekau, on behalf of his terror group, had on March 7 pledged allegiance to the leadership of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and the ISIS in turn replied to welcome Boko Haram terrorists to its fold, referring to them as their 'brother.'

Initially, the terrorist leader was said have been in Mali, where he was in training and coordinating his group before they were flushed out of the zone by French and African forces, including Nigerian troops.

A senior military chief involved in the prosecution of the war against the militant group told Sun that Shekau may be targeting to run to Egypt or Libya, stating that he cannot confirm if he has indeed fled Nigeria.

“He may not find it easy to return to Mali this time round but we suspect he may be targeting East Africa or parts of North Africa such as Libya and Egypt where some islamist groups are causing instability now.”

“On whether he has successfully escaped from Nigeria, I have no such information but at the same time I cannot rule that out because of his level of desperation to flee and his links with some other groups within the region and even beyond. What we strongly believe at this moment is that he is still within our reach or that of our neighbours; especially Niger and Chad. He may find it difficult to move beyond these borders and may end up returning to one of our remote villages in the North-East to hide,” hesource said.

The military chief added, “one of his captured commanders once disclosed that Shekau had given instructions to his personal guards to shoot him dead in the face of a confrontation with our troops who he calls infidels. He believes that makes him a martyr.”