Chadian President Idriss Deby yesterday told Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau to surrender or be killed.
Speaking at a news conference in N’djamena, Deby said he knew the whereabouts of the terrorist leader.
“Abubakar Shekau must surrender. We know where he is. If he doesn’t give himself up, he will suffer the same fate as his compatriots.
“He was in Dikwa two days ago. He managed to get away, but we know where he is. It’s in his interest to surrender,” Deby said, referring to a town in Borno State held by Boko Haram that fell to Chad’s army earlier this week.
A video showing Shekau, sitting with four hooded members of the group, was released last the weekend.
The Chadian army has killed many members of the sect, fighting alongside the Nigerian, Cameroonian and Niger military, to battle the sect which has taken terrorism beyond Nigeria’s northeast states where they were operating.
Shekau is wanted by the Federal Government. The military once said it had killed him.
He is also wanted by the United States which placed bounty on his head and that of some of the sect’s leaders.
Chad’s army has waged a series of battles against Boko Haram as part of a cross-border military campaign and has re-taken territory the militant group held in Borno State.
The Chadian army is considered one of the best in West Africa and is backed by a strong air force. It first deployed to help Cameroon fend off Boko Haram and is now pressing southwest into Nigerian territory after capturing the border town of Gamboru last month.
Boko Haram, a Sunni militant group, has killed thousands of people in Nigeria during a six-year insurgency to carve out an Islamic caliphate. It has also staged a series of cross- border attacks into Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
