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Tayo Olanipekun
A senior Boko Haram figure, Mamman Nur, has been reportedly killed by some of his own colleagues.
Nur’s men allegedly shot and killed him on August 21, following an internal dispute, according to sources quoted by the Voice of America (VOA).
Reports of the killing have just trickled out in the last few days.
An Islamist scholar, Gyade Abdalla, in the northeast Nigeria, who reportedly has served as a trusted negotiator between Boko Haram leaders and Nigerian government officials, told the media outlet that “Nur’s men believed the Boko Haram figure was too lenient.”
He said a key cause of dispute was Nur’s decision to release schoolgirls kidnapped from the northeast Nigerian town of Dapchi.
It is recalled that Boko Haram abducted 109 female students from a secondary school in Dapchi in February this year and nearly all of the girls were returned safely to their homes about a month later,except a Christian girl, Leah Sharibu.
This also followed their onslaught on Chibok,Borno State in April 2014,resulting in the abduction of 276 schoolgirls from a secondary school,112 of which are still said to be missing.
Nur led a faction of Boko Haram that broke away in 2014 from the militant group led by Abubakar Shekau.
His faction, which selected Abubakar al-Barnawi as its Emir, established its operational base around Lake Chad north of Nigeria’s Borno state.
The group pays allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Nur also has been much more willing than other Boko Haram leaders to negotiate with the government about issues such as releasing captives,according to the report.
A fluent Arabic speaker, Nur networked extensively with other Boko Haram factions operating around Lake Chad, including in Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Abdalla suggested that Nur’s death could weaken the Boko Haram faction as the issue of no apparent successor to Nur could splinter the sect further.
“That would give an edge to the Nigerian government if it acted quickly to dislodge the group,” he added.
