Abubakar Mohammed Shekau (23 March 1973 – 19 May 2021) was a Nigerian militant who was the leader of Boko Haram, an Islamist extremist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, from 2009 to 2021.

Shekau killed himself on 19 May 2021 by detonating a suicide vest during the battle of Sambisa Forest between Boko Haram and Islamic State's West Africa Province.

[14] He reportedly received formal Islamic education in a local religious school known as a tsangaya from a cleric named Baba Fani.

[10] He later met Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of Jamaat Ahlus Sunnah li Dawah wal Jihad, and became one of his deputies.

[citation needed] As a result of his erratic leadership, in 2012 a faction of the group broke off to form Jamaat Ansar al-Muslimin fi Bilād as-Sudn (Ansaru).

Shekau was also thought to have killed his own religious advisors, including Sheikh Abd al-Malek al-Ansari al-Kadunawi and Abu al-Abbas al-Bankiwani.

[23] His online videos frequently depict anti-American rhetoric, and he has made multiple threats to attack the U.S.[24] In one prominent incident, he took credit for the kidnapping of over 200 school girls in April 2014.

[28][29] With the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria during 2014 and 2015, Shekau faced pressure from his commanders and soldiers to pledge his allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

[35][9] Regardless, Shekau never fully renounced his allegiance to the Islamic State, instead framing the rebel infighting as being solely attributable to his local rivals.

[37] The Nigerian army in mid-August 2013 stated that he was fatally wounded when soldiers raided a base of Boko Haram in Sambisa forest and had died between 25 July and 3 August.

"[41] In early October 2014, a video was obtained by AFP news agency that showed Shekau alive, in which he mocked the Nigerian military's allegations that he had been killed.

[47] An audio message attributed to Shekau was released a few days later, in which he purportedly stated that he had neither been killed nor ousted as chief of the group.

[48] Shekau was reported to have been "fatally wounded" during an airstrike in Taye village on 19 August 2016 by Nigerian Air Force which also killed some senior leaders of Boko Haram.

In February 2020, Shekau released a video threatening the minister of information and digital economy, Isa Ali Pantami, and making reference to what was done to Islamic scholar Ja'afar Mahmud Adam in Maiduguri when he preached against Boko Haram, Bulama Bukarti, explained why Boko Haram leader Shekau threatened the Minister in an interview with the BBC.

[35] ISWAP attempted to convince Shekau to surrender and acknowledge Barnawi's authority, but the Boko Haram leader refused.

In the middle of the negotiations, Shekau reportedly used a suicide vest to kill himself as well as a senior ISWAP frontline commander who was talking to him at the time.