Boko Haram appears to have been in disarray as its factional leader, Abubakar Shekau announced that he had killed the spokesman of the sect, Tasiu, also known as Abu Zinnira, for aligning with one other commander to remove him as leader.
Shekau said that the duo had been sending fighters out on illegal raids, spreading rumours among his lieutenants that he intended to kill them and portraying him as unfit to lead.
An agency report quoted Shekau as telling an inner circle of his group that “I killed Tasiu. You should hear me: I killed Tasiu, hear me well.”
It was reported that the meeting had been called to clear the air over the bad blood apparently sparked within the group by Tasiu’s elimination.
Shekau in a 50-minute audio recording of the meeting, blasted “those grumbling over the killing of Tasiu.”
Tasiu and “other elements,” he charged, had tried to portray him to the rank and file as “not on the right track. Tell me, what is the punishment for people that plot against their leader?”
“By our code of allegiance we don’t hesitate to pass appropriate sanction on any one of us that commits an offence.”
He said nothing about the fate of the “other elements.” [myad]
