The Presidency has dismissed claims that senior Islamic State West Africa Province commander Abu-Bilal Al-Manuki had previously been killed in an earlier military operation, insisting that reports linking his name to a 2024 strike were the result of mistaken identity.
The clarification was made by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga amid growing public skepticism surrounding the recently announced joint Nigeria-United States operation that reportedly eliminated the terror leader.
In a statement shared on X on Saturday, Onanuga acknowledged that Al-Manuki’s name had appeared among ISWAP commanders allegedly killed during 2024 military operations around the Birnin Gwari forest axis in Kaduna State. However, he said security agencies have now confirmed that the earlier assessment was inaccurate.
“Security officials now clarify that the earlier listing was a case of mistaken identity or misattribution in the fog of sustained counterinsurgency operations,” Onanuga stated.
He further explained that intelligence reviews established that Birnin Gwari was never within Al-Manuki’s operational territory, effectively discrediting the previous claims of his death.
According to the Presidency, the latest operation followed months of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance activities, including communications monitoring and phone intercepts dating back to December 2025.
Onanuga said security officials initially hoped to capture the ISWAP commander alive, which accounted for the extensive surveillance reportedly conducted across locations including Abuja and Maiduguri before the final strike was authorized.
“Officials maintain that multiple layers of verification were applied before authorization of the final kinetic action,” he said, adding that authorities are now “100 per cent certain” of the target’s identity.
The clarification follows comparisons by critics to past counterterrorism claims involving Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, who was repeatedly declared dead before his eventual confirmed death in 2021.
Earlier, Donald Trump announced the operation on his Truth Social platform, describing Al-Manuki as “the most active terrorist in the world” and the “second in command of ISIS globally.”
United States Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also confirmed that Al-Manuki oversaw attack planning, hostage-taking operations, and financial coordination for ISIS activities across the Sahel region.
The U.S. Africa Command reportedly released footage showing precision strikes targeting multiple ISIS militants in northeastern Nigeria, while President Bola Tinubu described the mission as a major success in Nigeria-U.S. counterterrorism cooperation.
Al-Manuki, also known as Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Ali al-Mainuki and Abubakar Mainok, was born in Mainok, Borno State, in 1982. The U.S. Department of State designated him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in June 2023.
He reportedly rose through the ranks of ISWAP following the death of Mamman Nur in 2018 and became linked to the ISIS al-Furqan network coordinating extremist operations across Nigeria and the Sahel.
