6 Things You Need To Know About New Boko Haram Leader, Abu Musab al-Barnawi

Abu Musab al-Barnawi

When the Islamic State group appointed Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the head of Boko Haram  on the 3rd August to replace Abubakar Shekau, few people even recognised his name. Barnawi’s appointment by IS has deepened a rift with longtime chief Abubakar Shekau, who later released a video insisting he was in charge and vowing to fight on.

Here are six things you should know about the new sect leader

1.He was originally named Habib Yusuf and he is between 22- 25 years of age

2. He is the surviving son of the group’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf who died in police custody following a 2009 military crackdown on the sect

3.He was the group’s former spokesman and first appeared in a Boko Haram video in January 2015.

4.He [Al-Barnawi] personally distanced himself from the killing of Muslim civilians by Boko Haram in 2012,

5.In his most recent magazine interview, he again objected to the name Boko Haram, by which local people call the group, as it means “Western education is forbidden” in Hausa.

6.He is against democracy and foreign education.