Militant group leader Shekau resurfaces in video

The embattled leader of Islamist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, resurfaced in a video posted online yesterday, rejecting assertions by the Nigerian army that he had been seriously wounded.

“You have been spreading in the social media that you injured or killed me,” Shekau said in the 40-minute video released on YouTube and dated September 25. “Oh tyrants, I’m in a happy state, in good health and in safety.”

The Nigerian army said on August 23 that Shekau had been seriously wounded in the shoulder in an air raid, in which several commanders were killed.

The army’s claim was bolstered when Boko Haram released a video on September 13 without Shekau in it. That video, also posted on YouTube, shows an unidentified man who says he is representing Shekau, who had allegedly been ousted by Daesh, to which Boko Haram pledged allegiance in March 2015. insurgency in 2009 but doctors at the hospital say they’ve treated nearly three times as many for its psychological effects.

That figure is likely to only be the tip of the iceberg: the hospital is the only psychiatric facility in northeast Nigeria — an area bigger than that of the UK.

In all, 2.6 million people

Lifetime effects

“Over 58,000 patients have been seen in the hospital that are related to the insurgency,” he said.

“Common causes we see … are post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, substance abuse disorder, psychosis, anxiety disorders like phobia and panic disorder.”

United Nations SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon in May 2015 called on Nigeria to “scale up the provision of medical and psychosocial support”.