CHADIAN leader Idriss Deby yesterday fueled the speculation that Boko Ha­ram leader Abubakar Shek­au is dead when he said the sect has a new leader who is ready to negotiate with the Federal Government.

Deby gave the new leader’s name as Maha­mat Daoud while address­ing the press in the capital N’Djamena on the 55th an­niversary of Chad’s inde­pendence from France. He however advised the Nige­rian government not to suc­cumb to pressure to hold talks with the militants.

“There is someone ap­parently called Mahamat Daoud who is said to have replaced Abubakar Shekau and he wants to negotiate with the Nigerian gov­ernment. “For my part, I would advise not to nego­tiate with a terrorist,” the president said.

Controversy has dogged claims by the Nigerian mil­itary that Shekau is dead, as the sect had repeatedly claimed that the dreaded leader is alive. Shekau had always appeared in videos disparaging Nigerian lead­ers and the military.

But he has been miss­ing in videos released in the past five months by the group. The group launched full-scale terror on Nige­ria under the leadership of Shekau. Several efforts by individuals and groups to bring the Federal Gov­ernment and the group under him to the negotiat­ing table failed as a result of conditions given by the insurgents, which were un­acceptable to the Federal Government.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said his admin­istration has the capacity to eradicate the sect even as he expressed readiness to negotiate if proven that genuine members of the group are involved.

Deby’s hardline position is informed by his belief that Boko Haram militants are already in disarray following the renewed at­tacks launched by the mul­tinational force against the group. “Efforts to combat neighbouring Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadists had succeeded in “decapitat­ing” the group and would be wrapped up “by the end of the year,” he said.

“The war will be short, with the setting up of the regional force, it will be over by the end of the year,” Deby added, refer­ring to a new five-country force aimed at ending Boko Haram’s bloody six-year Islamist insurgency that he said would be “op­erational in a few days”.

He was however quick to admit that suicide bomb­ers still posed a threat. The challenge, Deby said, was to “avoid terrorist acts and that’s why we must orga­nise at the regional level to prevent bomb-making materials and other explo­sives entering our coun­tries.”

Meanwhile, a Cameroon troop commander has said forces killed 10 suspected Boko Haram fighters who had launched an attack on a town bordering Nigeria. Col. Jacob Kodji said that hundreds of fighters en­tered the border town of Ashigashia in Cameroon early Tuesday, shooting into the air. He said the insurgents retreated when reinforcements arrived to back the Cameroonian soldiers. He said some ar­rests were made. He said no civilian casualties were reported.