Sources within the military and government circle have waved off reports on the Sheikh Abubakar Shekau had been shot and deposed as leader of Jama’atu Ahlul Sunnah Lih Da’awa Wal Jihad, better known as Boko Haram.
Military sources who spoke to THISDAY dismissed the report as false, adding that the intention, apparently, is to mislead both the government and members of the public.
"It is not true," a senior army officer said in response to question about the veracity of the report.
The defence headquarters had even on Wednesday disclosed that the joint intelligence sharing and military cooperation between the Nigeria and Niger Republic has helped to foil the plan by some Boko Haram insurgents that escaped the onslaught by the troops of the Joint Task Force (JTF), to regroup for counter-offensive.
The Director of Defence Information, Brig-Gen. Chris Olukolade, also disclosed that the terror groups have recruited more hands with which they had planned to launch attacks against some communities inthe Northern states.
Meanwhile, the minister of special duties and chairman, Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution on Security Challenges in the North (Amnesty Committee), Alhaji Tanimu Turaki, SAN, has refused to speak on the purported overthrow of the Boko Haram boss.
Turaki simply said "no comment". He had on Wednesday told THISDAY thattheir Committee will not be deterred by the recent bombings in Kano and will continue with their ongoing negotiation with a faction of Boko Haram.
He had also maintained that the Amnesty Committee is negotiating with "authentic" Boko Haram.
However a member of the committeetold THISDAY Friday that the story about "Shekau being deposed is not true".
The report claimed that power tussle in Boko Haram culminated in the shooting and deposing of their leader, Abubakar Shekau.
It said Shekau was deposed after being shot by rivals within the groupled by Abu Zamira Mohammed, who is the sect’s leader negotiating with the federal government and that he has been appointed new leader by the group’s Shura Council.
According to the report, the successful coup comes almost three weeks after Shekau publicly disowned a ceasefire agreement with the Boko Haram Amnesty Committee which had been earlier announced by his deputy, Sheikh Abdulazeez.
Shekau had in a video released after the announcement of the ceasefire agreement, disowned Sheikh Abdulazeez.
He said: “We are stating it categorically that we are not in any dialogue or ceasefire agreement with anyone. And we have never asked anybody in the name Abdulazeez to represent me, Abubakar Shekau, the leader of this movement.
“I swear by Allah that Abdulazeez or whatever he calls himself did not get any authority from me to represent me in any capacity. I do not know him. And if we per adventure encounter Abulazeez and his group, Iswear by Allah we are going to mete them with the grave judgment that Allah has prescribed for their likes in the holy book.”
The Shekau group who threatened more attacks in states such as Yobe, Borno, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna, Taraba and Adamawa were suspected to be behind the recent attacks in a schoolin Borno last Saturday and in Kano on Monday, killing scores of people.

Guessed as much meanwhile f2c