The death of Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, the militant head of the notorious terrorist organisation Islamic State West Africa Province, has been verified by the Nigerian Army high command (ISWAP).
Between August and September, rumors circulated that Al-Barnawi, initially baptized Habib Yusuf, the son of Boko Haram’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf, had been slain in mysterious circumstances.
Mohammed Yusuf was assassinated by Nigerian security forces in Maiduguri, Borno State, in 2009.
General Lucky Irabor, the country’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), confirmed Al-killing Barnawi’s at a Thursday ministerial briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, saying the criminal was dead and gone.
Irabor said: “I can authoritatively confirm to you that Abu Musab is dead. As simple as that, he is dead and remains dead.”
He was reported to have died in August 2021, with various accounts claiming he was assassinated by the Nigerian Army or by renegades inside ISWAP following an internal power struggle.
Irabor failed to provide context for the terrorist’s killing at his briefing at Aso Rock.
From 2002 until 2015, Abu Musab al-Barnawi was an active member of his father’s organisation, Boko Haram, before joining ISWAP in 2015 and rising to become its leader until his death in 2021.
He was the terrorist group’s founder’s eldest surviving son.
Abu Musab al-Barnawi, born Habib Yusuf, was a Nigerian Islamic fighter who led the Islamic State’s branch in West Africa (ISWAP) between August 2016 and March 2019, and again around May 2021, according to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.
Before professing allegiance to ISIL, Al-Barnawi was the spokesman for Boko Haram, and on January 27, 2015, he released a propaganda film as the spokesman for Boko Haram.
Abubakar Shekau, a former Boko Haram leader, recorded an audio statement on March 7, 2015, in which he pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the Islamic State.
In an ISIL video broadcast in April 2016, Abubakar Shekau was reinstated as the branch’s head. “Several months ago, about half of Boko Haram broke off to a separate group because they were not happy with the amount of buy-in, if you will, from Boko Haram into the ISIL brand,” Marine Lieutenant General Thomas Waldhauser told Reuters on June 21, 2016.
Shekau disobeyed ISIL orders to stop employing minors as suicide bombers, causing the body to be fractionalized.
However, the split eventually resulted in the reemergence of a rival faction, known as “Boko Haram,” which is opposed to ISIL and ISWAP and is led by Shekau.
In the 41st issue of their journal al-Naba, the Islamic State announced that Abu Musab al-Barnawi had been selected as the new commander of their West African branch.
Shekau responded by claiming that he and his supporters were correct, and that “[we] will not accept any emissary unless we can attest that he is sincere and truthful for Allah and His cause.”
In an interview with al-Naba, al-Barnawi stated that he would not attack mosques or markets in northern Nigeria.
The discrepancy in both tactics is due to Barnawi’s belief that the region’s general populace is Muslim, whereas Shekau believes they are non-believers.
On February 27, 2018, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control identified Al-Barnawi as a “Specially Designated National”
Rumours began to spread in March 2019 that Abu Musab had been replaced as Governor of ISWAP by Abu Abdullah Idris ibn Umar al-Barnawi.
There has been uncertainty regarding the claimed dismissal because neither the Islamic State’s top leadership nor members of its West African branch have formally commented on the reports.
Some argued that he had possibly been overthrown as part of an internal power struggle, while the Multinational Joint Task Force claimed that he had been fired by the Islamic State’s top command due to a number of defeats of his forces at the hands of Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF).
Around 16th May, ISWAP released an audio declaring that Abu Musab al-Barnawi had been reinstated by ISIL’s central command as “caretaker” leader of ISWAP.
With al-Barnawi restored to overall command, ISWAP proceeded to overrun Sambisa Forest, inflicting a major defeat on the Shekau faction and resulting in Abubakar Shekau’s death.
Al-Barnawi consequently declared Boko Haram dissolved, and Shekau dead, condemning him as “someone who committed unimaginable terrorism.”
Soon after, ISWAP’s structure was reformed, and al-Barnawi was appointed head of the ISWAP’s shura (a powerful consultative assembly) and commander of Sambisa Forest.
