Presidency Dismisses 2024 Report Claiming ISIS Commander Al-Manuki Was Previously Killed

The Presidency has dismissed claims that Abu-Bilal Al-Manuki, the senior Islamic State West Africa Province commander reportedly killed in a joint Nigeria-United States military operation, had previously been declared dead in an earlier operation.

Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made the clarification amid growing public scepticism over the operation announced by former US President Donald Trump on Friday night.

In a post shared on X on Saturday, Onanuga acknowledged that Al-Manuki’s name had appeared among suspected ISWAP commanders reportedly killed during a 2024 operation around the Birnin Gwari forest axis in Kaduna State.

However, he said security officials had since determined that the earlier report was a case of mistaken identity.

“Security officials now clarify that the earlier listing was a case of mistaken identity or misattribution in the fog of sustained counterinsurgency operations.

“Importantly, intelligence now confirms that the Birnin Gwari theatre was never within Al-Manuki’s established operational sphere, which negates the accuracy of the earlier assessment,” Onanuga stated.

According to him, the latest operation followed months of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance activities, including communications monitoring and phone intercepts said to have begun in December 2025.

Onanuga explained that security operatives initially planned to capture Al-Manuki alive, which accounted for the surveillance mounted across locations such as Abuja and Maiduguri before the final strike was authorised.

“Officials maintain that multiple layers of verification were applied before authorisation of the final kinetic action, making this operation distinct from earlier incidents in which battlefield assessments later required revision.

“In their assessment, ‘this time, there is no ambiguity’,” he added.

He further stated that authorities were “100 per cent certain” about the identity of the target.

The clarification followed concerns raised by critics who referenced previous counterterrorism operations in which high-profile terror leaders, including former Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, were wrongly declared dead before resurfacing years later.

Trump had announced the operation on his Truth Social platform, describing Al-Manuki as “the most active terrorist in the world” and “second in command of ISIS globally.”

“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield,” Trump wrote.

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth also confirmed that Al-Manuki served as the senior ISIS General Directorate of Provinces Emir, overseeing attack planning, hostage-taking operations and the group’s financial activities across the Sahel region.

The US Africa Command reportedly released footage showing targeted strikes on multiple high-value ISIS militants in northeastern Nigeria.

President Bola Tinubu, in a separate statement on Saturday, described the operation as one that “dealt a heavy blow to the ranks of the Islamic State,” while praising the Nigeria-US partnership in the fight against terrorism.

Al-Manuki, also known as Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Ali al-Mainuki, Abor Mainok and Abubakar Mainok, was born in Mainok, Benisheikh, Borno State, in 1982.

The United States Department of State designated him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in June 2023.

He reportedly rose within ISWAP ranks following the killing of the group’s former leader, Mamman Nur, in 2018, and was linked to ISIS al-Furqan networks coordinating operations across Nigeria and the Sahel.

Responding to public doubts, Onanuga warned against undermining joint counterterrorism operations involving Nigerian forces and international allies.

“Undermining credible joint operations, particularly those involving Nigerian forces and international partners, risks weakening public confidence in ongoing counterterrorism efforts,” he said.