Boko Haram leader Shekau appears in new video; ...insists he's alive and claims attacks on barracks

Boko Haram sect leader, Abubakar Shekau, appeared in a video clip posted online by the sect, insisting that he remains alive, irrespective of reports that he died in June this year and also claimed daring December 20 raid on a military barracks in the restive northeast, in a video obtained by AFP.
The insurgents stormed the barracks in the town of Bama in a convoy of trucks before sunrise, opened fired on the soldiers inside then torched the compound. Several witnesses said the gunmen kidnapped soldiers as well as women and children.
Shekau was pronounced dead by the Joint Task Force (JTF) in August following gunshot wounds he suffered during an encounter with operatives of the JTF in June.

In the online video, Shekau dressed in a military uniform, while abusing President Goodluck Jonathan, US President, Barack Obama, President Fancois Hollande of France and Queen Elizabeth of England, said the leaders should be ashamed for apparently believing that he was dead.

He was reported to have said: “they said I am dead, but here I am. The world should know that I am alive and will only die at the appointed time. Everybody should be judged according to the dictates of his conscience.

“What I am doing is written in the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith and I will not stop. I challenge all the clerics of the world to question my deeds. Those underrating my capacity should have a re-think. I will never allow democracy to thrive.

“The concept of government of the people by the people for the people will never be possible and will never exist. Democracy shall be replaced only by the government of Allah, from Allah and for Allah.”

Shekau boasted that the Nigerian will never be able to defeat his group.

“Our fighters stormed the Bama barracks,” Shekau said, while seated on a mat and flanked by a group of armed men.

Shekau has released a series of videos since taking control of the rebel group more than three years ago. The latest recorded statement was delivered to AFP through the same channel as previous messages.

“This is a victory from Allah,” said the wanted insurgent leader after claiming to have destroyed “21 armoured tanks” and killed “multitudes” in the raid