Boko Haram founder’s son takes over group’s leadership

PanARMENIAN.Net - New details have emerged about Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, newly appointed leader of terrorist group Boko Haram, NAIJ reports.

Recall that Islamic state (ISIS) militant group had early in August, appointed Al-Barnawi as the head of Boko Haram, a decision which was vehemently rejected by long-time chief Abubakar Shekau.

Shekau released a video insisting he was in charge and vowing to fight on.

But according to a report on MSN, Al-Barnawi appointment as the new leader of Boko Haram didn’t occur following his long allegiance to the group as former spokesman, but due to family ties.

It was gathered that Barnawi, born Habib Yusuf, is the 22-year-old son of Boko Haram’s founder Mohammed Yusuf.

His father died in police custody following a 2009 military crackdown on the sect in the northeast, Maiduguri, that spurred the group to take up arms against the Nigerian government.

“Abu Musab al-Barnawi is the son of late Mohammed Yusuf,” tweeted Ahmad Salkida, a Nigerian journalist who is said to have close ties with the insurgents.

“He is the first surviving son,” confirmed Fulan Nasrullah, a conflict researcher based in Nigeria, also in a Twitter post.

Barnawi was “like a younger brother or son to Shekau”, Nasrullah said, describing him as one of the chief’s two trusted right-hand men.

Barnawi made his first public appearance in a January 2015 video claiming responsibility for a Boko Haram attack in the northeastern town of Baga, where many civilians were massacred.

But with the military claiming that Shekau had been wounded in an air strike on Boko Haram’s forest stronghold, Barnawi may be looking to step into the shoes of his mentor.

Boko Haram has killed an estimated 20,000 people, prompted 2.6 million to flee their homes, and kidnapped thousands of people, including hundreds of schoolgirls from Chibok in the northern state of Borno.