The Presidency has clarified why a senior Islamic State commander, Abu-Bilal Al-Manuki, was erroneously declared dead in 2024, attributing the development to mistaken identity during ongoing counter-insurgency operations.
The explanation was provided by the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, following public concerns over a recent joint Nigeria-United States military operation that reportedly eliminated the terrorist leader.
In a statement shared on X on Saturday, Onanuga acknowledged that Al-Manuki’s name had previously appeared among ISWAP commanders said to have been neutralised during military operations around the Birnin Gwari forest axis in Kaduna State in 2024.
However, he explained that subsequent intelligence reviews revealed that the identification was inaccurate.
According to him, security agencies later discovered that the Birnin Gwari axis was never within Al-Manuki’s known operational territory, thereby casting doubt on the earlier assessment.
“Security officials now clarify that the earlier listing was a case of mistaken identity or misattribution in the fog of sustained counter-insurgency operations,” he stated.
Onanuga further disclosed that the latest operation followed months of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), including communication tracking and phone intercepts that reportedly commenced in December 2025.
He added that security operatives initially planned to capture Al-Manuki alive, which informed the decision to place him under close monitoring across multiple locations, including Abuja and Maiduguri, before the final strike was authorised.
The presidential aide emphasised that multiple layers of verification were conducted before executing the operation, distinguishing it from previous incidents where terror commanders were wrongly declared dead.
“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,” he said.
Onanuga stressed that security authorities are now “100 per cent certain” that Al-Manuki was the individual eliminated in the latest operation.
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