Most wanted terrorist Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram terrorist group, was sighted in the nation’s capital Abuja but was not pursued because of “orders from above” in one of the country’s security services, it has been claimed.

A Department of State Security (DSS) source told News Express that the incident took place earlier this year – before the change of guards that followed the assumption of office by the new regime in the country.

The source, who cannot be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said: “There was a time we were tracking Shekau, the Boko Haram leader, and we noticed he was with a former VP of Nigeria. Immediately we contacted our boss. The next thing we noticed was, the operation was called off, and we went back to our office.”

The source did not state the month the incident took place but said it was “earlier this year” during the tenure of Ita Ekpenyong as Director General of DSS. News Express could not reach Mr. Ekpenyong for comments.

The Nigerian military repeatedly claimed to have killed Shekau in the past and the Camerounian Army once made a similar claim.

However, the Nigerian Army included Shekau among the over 100 top Boko Haram chiefs on the poster of wanted terrorists which it released last week. Yesterday, News Express reported Francis Okoemu, a Nigerian counter-terrorism expert, as saying emphatically that Shekau is still very much alive and in charge of the terrorist group which has made large parts of the country’s north virtually ungovernable since it launched its campaign of violence in 2009.

President Muhammadu Buhari has given the country’s military next month as deadline to defeat the evil sect.

•Photo shows Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.