SAN FRANCISCO, August 14, (THEWILL) – A man, Momodu Bama, believed to be the second-in-command to the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, and his father, Abatcha Flatari, a spiritual leader of the sect, have been confirmed killed by the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno State, Operation Restore Order.
JTF spokesman, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, who confirmed the killings, said Bama and his father were killed about 10 days ago during a counter attack in Bama, when Boko Haram attacked the Mobile base in Bama the headquarters of Bama Local government of Borno state on August 4.
He maintained that even before his killing, the JTF had placed N25 million bounty on his head and not N10 million as claimed by some media report.
Displaying a flyer where Momodu Bama and his leader Abubakar Shekau, were declared wanted with bounties of N25 million and N50 million placed on them respectively, Musa said Bama was the second in command to Shekau and next in notoriety to the Boko Haram leader.
Some media report had claimed that another Muhammad Bama on whose a bounty of N10 million was placed was killed by JTF in Mubi, Adamawa State.
But Musa said the Borno JTF had to tarry in breaking the news so as to be sure that they were actually the ones killed even as he said the Adamawa JTF must have be misled by the claim of the terrorist they killed, insisting that members of the sect are known to give pseudo names and titles.
He said the father of the slain Boko Haram commander who was also killed was one of the spiritual mentors of the sect responsible for indoctrinating the foot soldiers of the sect who were in most cases abducted.
