[1] Born in Girgi village, in Jakusko, present-day Yobe State, Nigeria, Yusuf received a University education.

[3] According to scholar Paul Lubeck of the University of California at Santa Cruz, as a young man Yusuf was instructed in Shiasm and associated with Salafism and the teachings of Ibn Taymiyyah.

Boko Haram hitmen would murder members of other Muslim sects like the Salafist Izala and the Sufi Tidjaniyya and Qadiriya fraternities.

Yusuf had four wives and 12 children,[7] one of them being Abu Musab al-Barnawi, who claimed since 2016 to be the rightful leader of Boko Haram, opposing Abubakar Shekau.

[10][11][12] Police officials initially claimed either that Yusuf was shot while trying to escape or died of wounds he sustained during a gun battle with the military.