Abu Qaqa or Abu Kaka is an assumed name of the official spokesperson for the

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

terrorist group Boko Haram. Described as the chief information officer and a key leader in the

militant group The Militant Group was an early British Trotskyist group, formed in 1935 by Denzil Dean Harber, former leader of the entrist Marxist Group in the ILP, as a separate entrist group inside the Labour Party. Initially known as the Bolshevik-Leni ...

, Qaqa was known for speaking to reporters explaining the motives of the group and taking credit for attacks. At various times the Nigerian government has claimed his capture or death, but this has been denied by Boko Haram. A man claiming to be Abu Qaqa was detained by the Nigerian government in late January or early February 2012, but confirming his real identity proved to be a challenge since Abu Qaqa is an assumed name. Some reports call the detention a defection. After the arrest, another man introduced himself to reporters as the "real" Abu Qaqa, but the press now calls Abu Qaqa II. At least one additional Abu Qaqa's later emerged, sometimes referred to as Abu Qaqa III. Notably, speaking by phone to reporters in November 2012, one of the new Abu Qaqas said "We are together with al Qaeda, they are promoting the cause of Islam, just as we are doing. Therefore they help us in our struggle and we help them, too." The name has also been picked up by unrelated individuals online. A

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

user using the handle Abu Qaqa voiced his approval of ISIL beheadings in Syria in 2014. Several blogs use the Abu Qaqa name to promote Islamic extremist views.

References

{{Reflist Boko Haram members Members of jihadist groups Boko Haram

See also

References