Nigerian army gets 40 days to nab Boko Haram leader

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - Nigerian troops have 40 days to capture an elusive Boko Haram leader “dead or alive”, according to the country's army chief Tukur Buratai.

“The Chief of Army Staff has directed the Theatre Commander, Operation LAFIYA DOLE (peace by all means necessary), Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, to capture Abubakar Shekau, the so-called and self-styled leader of Boko Haram terrorist group, dead or alive,” army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement late Friday.

“The Theatre Commander has further been directed to do so within 40 days. He is to employ all arsenal at the disposal of the Theatre Command to smoke out Shekau wherever he is hiding in Nigeria,” the statement added.

With an unabated spate of suicide bombings, the ultimatum comes days after the ultraviolent Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram released a video of some policewomen recently captured in the northeast. The video apparently prompted Acting President Yemi Osinbajo’s acknowledgment on Thursday of the June 20 kidnapping, which had initially been denied by police authorities.

The Nigerian military had repeatedly claimed to have killed the top militant.