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President Trump’s social media announcement that Abu Bilal al-Minuki
| …also in our archives as Abu Bakr al-Mainuki, he was the ISIS Number 2, holding the organizing and finance portfolios, and previously head of ISWAP… |
Further uncertainty emerged when Nigerian media dug up previous military reports from February 2024 announcing the same commander’s death. The military was forced to issue a “clarification,” suggesting that the Abu Bilal al-Minuki of 2024 and that of 2026 were two separate individuals.
“It is important to state that within the Northeast region and across the Lake Chad Basin, the use of similar or identical names, aliases and nom de guerres is common among ISWAP and Boko Haram terrorists,” the military’s statement noted. Yet in the 2024 announcement, the military had been very specific, telling the press that al-Minuki, “famously known as Abubakar Mainok, was a head of ISWAP.”
For those familiar with the Boko Haram crisis, including the dynamics surrounding the 2016 split that led ISIS to recognise the breakaway ISWAP, there was only one famous Abu Bilal al-Minuki: Abubakar Mainok, popularly known as Bor Mainok, Bukar Mainok, or simply Abor. As Boko Haram’s top commander in charge of the Lake Chad islands, he played a major role in ensuring the split succeeded: he welcomed, hosted, and provided security for the defectors led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi and Mamman Nur.
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