The Presidency has moved to clear growing confusion surrounding the reported killing of senior ISIS commander Abu-Bilal Al-Manuki, insisting that claims he was earlier declared dead in 2024 were the result of mistaken identity.
The clarification followed public scepticism after United States President Donald Trump announced Friday night that Al-Manuki, described as one of ISIS’ top global commanders, had been eliminated in a joint operation involving American and Nigerian forces.
Critics quickly pointed to earlier military reports from 2024 in which Nigerian authorities had listed a commander bearing a similar name among terrorists killed during operations around the Birnin Gwari axis in Kaduna State.
Responding to the controversy on Saturday, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said security agencies have since established that the earlier report was inaccurate
According to him, investigators later discovered that the Birnin Gwari area was never part of Al-Manuki’s known operational territory, making the previous identification unreliable.
Onanuga explained that the latest operation was built on months of intelligence gathering, surveillance and communications intercepts, with tracking efforts reportedly beginning late last year.
He said security operatives initially hoped to capture the ISIS leader alive, which accounted for the prolonged surveillance across several locations, including Abuja and Maiduguri, before the final strike was authorised.
The presidential aide maintained that unlike previous counterterrorism claims that later became disputed, authorities carried out several layers of verification before approving the operation.
“In their assessment, this time there is no ambiguity,” he stated, adding that officials were fully certain of the target’s identity.
The controversy has revived memories of past military announcements involving Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, who was repeatedly declared dead over the years before his eventual confirmed death in 2021.
That history has fuelled public caution anytime authorities announce the elimination of major terror figures.
Still, the Presidency argued that drawing direct comparisons between the Shekau saga and the Al-Manuki operation would be misleading, insisting that modern intelligence systems and international collaboration have significantly improved verification processes.
Trump, who first announced the operation on his Truth Social platform, described Al-Manuki as “the most active terrorist in the world” and “second in command of ISIS globally.”
The Nigerian government has also hailed the mission as a major breakthrough in the fight against terrorism in the Lake Chad and Sahel region.
Al-Manuki, also known as Abubakar Mainok, was reportedly born in Borno State and had risen through the ranks of ISWAP after the killing of Mamman Nur in 2018. He was later designated a global terrorist by the United States in 2023.
