MEET NIGERIA'S MOST WANTED MAN

THE BBC has profiled the details of the leader of the dreaded BH. Read further:




The leader of the militant Islamist group
Boko Haram is said to be a fearless loner, a
complex, paradoxical man – part intellectual, part
gangster. Fondly called imam or leader by his
followers, Abubakar Muhammad Shekau was born
in Shekau village in Nigeria's north-eastern state
of Yobe. Some say he is 34 or 35, others that he
may be 43 – the uncertainty adds to the myths
surrounding Nigeria's most wanted man.
It is a chilling account of the man, who once said "I
enjoy killing anyone that God commands me to kill
– the way I enjoy killing chickens and rams," after a
bombing in Kano.
Mr Shekau is said to have met his predecessor in
Maiduguri, capital of Borno State and now
Boko Haram's headquarters, through a mutual
friend, Mamman Nur. Nigeria's authorities say Mr
Nur masterminded the August 2011 bombing of
the UN office complex in Nigeria's capital, Abuja.
All three were theology students – and Mr
Shekau was seen as the quietest and perhaps the
most radical of them.
"He hardly talks, he is fearless," says Ahmed
Salkida, a journalist with such good access to
Boko Haram that, at one stage, he was
suspected of being a member. He says he only
escaped summary execution by Maiduguri police
after an intelligence officer intervened. "He is one
of those who believes that you can sacrifice
anything for your belief," Mr Salkida says. Mr
Shekau is fluent in his native Kanuri, Hausa and
Arabic languages – he does not speak English.