Seeing new #JASDJ #BokoHaram videos doing the rounds… Different groups of fighters in different settings, talking in different languages (Arabic, Buduma, Kanuri, Kanembu and Arabic). Clearly, we are near the Lake. A thread. 
In these videos (complete with antics à la Shekau), they affirm their loyalty to their imam, Abu Umaymah (mentioned in a prior video as replacement for Sahalaba, recently executed by JASDJ). It's not a pledge, though. It's about rejecting unambiguously any agreement with #ISWAP.
JASDJ does not name ISWAP. They call them apostates and “murjiah”, a term that refers to an old interpretation of Islam according to which one has to delay (irja) passing judgment on people, God being the only judge. In modern Salafi-jihadi parlance, this means “softies”.
This implicitly confirms there were indeed conversations between JASDJ and ISWAP, who have been fighting it out on Lake Chad pretty badly for months now. Those conversations played a part in the incident that led to the failed flight and execution of imam Sahalaba by #JASDJ.
The identity of Abu Umaymah is still not clear. Some say this is just a pseudonym for Bakura, who may have decided that his reported lack of religious expertise was not an obstacle for the imamate.
Others say Abu Umaymah is not Bakura. Some even allude to Bakura having been called into question (and more ?) as a leader. #Fogofwar
I guess the takeaway is, there will be more combat between JAS and ISWAP. The resilience of JAS (a jihad in slippers and on horseback as opposed to ISWAP's jihad in combat boots and on technicals!) on Lake Chad is actually pretty amazing.
But it has to take a toll at some point... even with the reinforcements they got from Sambisa after the death of Shekau... They have a purely predatory model, plunder and kidnapping, and no known transnational support... How do they subsist?
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