The deposed leader of an IS-backed faction of Boko Haram has been detained by more radical elements who seized control of the group, three well-informed sources have told AFP.
\nUncertainty has surrounded the fate of Abu Mus\u2019ab Al-Barnawi after he was replaced as leader of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) last month.
\nAn audio recording about his removal appeared online some two weeks ago, sparking speculation as to whether he was still alive or dead.
\nThree sources told AFP last week that Al-Barnawi had been deposed while the regional military force fighting the jihadists in northeast Nigeria has also acknowledged the development.
\nColonel Timothy Antigha, spokesman for the N\u2019Djamena-based Multinational Joint Task Force, said the change of leadership was the result of an \u201cinternal crisis\u201d. \u201cThe Islamic State West Africa Province announced the sack of Abu Mus\u2019ab Al-Barnawi and the appointment of Abu Abdullahi Ibn Umar Albarnawi,\u201d he added in a statement.
\nOne source with knowledge of the group\u2019s activities told AFP the deposed leader was now \u201cin the custody of the new leadership\u201d. \u201cIt was a bloodless coup. They made him abdicate and put him in detention,\u201d said the source, who asked not to be identified for his personal safety.
\nISWAP commanders met on February 28 in Kwalaram, one of the group\u2019s camps in the Lake Chad area, where they took a unanimous decision to replace Al-Barnawi. The source said they accused him of having close links with more moderate jihadists in Mali.
\nThe Kwalaram meeting was attended by all ISWAP commanders, who came in speedboats from different camps on and around the vast freshwater lake. A second source said the meeting was convened to prevent dissent in the ranks.
\n\u201cThey have not killed him, they only put him in detention as their aim was only to get him out of the way,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cHe is still being held and it is unlikely they will harm him for now.\u201d ISWAP\u2019s new leadership was wary about the emergence of a splinter group of fighters loyal to Al-Barnawi if he were executed, said the second source.
\nAl-Barnawi, who is in his mid-20s, is the son of Boko Haram\u2019s founder Muhammad Yusuf and enjoyed special recognition among followers. Killing him could cause disaffection and be seen as a betrayal of Yusuf, who is still venerated by all Boko Haram factions, including that led by his one-time deputy, Abubakar Shekau.
\n\u201cThe new leadership knows the possible consequence of killing Al-Barnawi as they did to Mamman Nur,\u201d a third source said, referring to the deposed ISWAP head\u2019s number two.
\nIf another breakaway faction appeared, Al-Barnawi\u2019s life would be in danger, the first source warned.
\nIS recognised Barnawi as head of ISWAP after a split from Shekau in mid-2016 over the latter\u2019s indiscriminate violence against civilians.
\nISWAP, which has been blamed for or claimed a spate of attacks against the Nigerian military in recent months, went through internal turmoil after the execution of Mamman Nur last year.
\nNur, a former Yusuf confidant, was the mastermind of the 2011 bombing of the UN building in Abuja that killed 26 and was widely seen as de facto head of ISWAP.
\nHe was killed in August last year after more radical fighters accused him of pocketing an alleged ransom for the release of more than 100 schoolgirls from the Yobe town of Dapchi. They were also angry with Nur\u2019s more moderate approach and back-channel talks with Nigeria\u2019s government, which is seeking an end to the conflict after nearly 10 years and an estimated 27,000 deaths.
\nThe new leadership saw Al-Barnawi as a continuation of Nur\u2019s softer approach and decided to edge him out, the third source said. \u201cKilling Al-Barnawi is not on the table, just as killing Nur was not on the table before the ransom disagreement,\u201d the source said. \u201cBut everything can change depending on the fallout of the leadership change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The deposed leader of an IS-backed faction of Boko Haram has been detained by more radical elements who seized control of the group, three well-informed sources have told AFP. Uncertainty has surrounded the fate of Abu Mus\u2019ab Al-Barnawi after he was replaced as leader of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) last month. An […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}