Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Boko Haram sect, has broken his five months silence, refuting the report of his death in an audio posted on social media on Sunday.

Describing President Idris Deby of Chad as a “hypocrite”, the notorious militant said infidels were behind reports of his death.

“It is indeed all over the global media of infidels that I am dead or that I am sick,” he said.

“It should be understood that this is false. This is indeed a lie. If it were true, my voice wouldn’t have been heard, now that I am speaking.

“I have not disappeared. I am still alive and I will not die until my time appointed by Allah is up.”

Last week during a press conference to mark Chad’s 55th independence anniversary, Deby said Shekau had been replaced with one Mahamat Daoud.

“There is someone apparently called Mahamat Daoud who is said to have replaced Abubakar Shekau and wants to negotiate with the Nigerian government,” he had said.

But Ahmad Salkida, a Nigerian journalist known to have access to top commanders of the sect, subsequently dismissed Deby’s view.

Salkida accused the Chadian leader of attempting to mislead the government of President Muhammadu Buhari the same way he did Jonathan.