•Three more killed in Kano, Jos
•CDS: We’ll restrategise security to checkmate group
•ACF to Nigerians: Let’s stop sect now
From ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE and NAFISAT BELLO, Kaduna, MARIAM ALESHINLOYE-AGBOOLA, Jos and DESMOND NGBOH, Kano, Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Fed up with life as a terrorist, a Boko Haram member, Mallam Sulaiman Isah, has decided to settle down to raise a family six months ago. But he regretted the decision yesterday. He relocated from Maiduguri, Borno State, the base of the Islamist sect to marry in Kaduna where he operated as a drycleaner in Ungwan Sanusi area of the metropolis until yesterday when in a commando style, he was captured from his residence.
As Isah was being led away, he was screaming, “yan, Boko Haram ne” meaning, They are Boko Haram members, ” even as the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) said all Nigerians must join hands to stop the sect.
Also on Sunday, barely few hours after the Islamist sect attacked St Finbarr’s Catholic Church, Rayfield, Jos, which claimed seven lives and 11 others in a reprisal by irate youths, the gunmen killed three Christians at Chugwi village, also in Plateau State same day even as 11 more bodies were recovered yesterday.
In yet another incident, Boko Haram, on Monday attacked a police station in Kano, injuring two officers on duty even as a sect member was disarmed and killed by policemen also in the metropolis.
Mallam Isah, a dry cleaner, who resides in Kwana Mai shai of Ungwa Sanusi in Kaduna South Local Government Area, fled from the sect in Maiduguri and relocated to Kaduna about six months ago.
A source who did not want to be named, told our correspondent who visited the area that, Mallam Isah repented from being a terrorist for fear of being killed, ran to Kaduna for safety.
The source noted that “Isah secretly went back to Maiduguri to pick his fiancé whom he later got married to in Kaduna two months ago. Unknown to him, his movements and activities were being monitored by the sect members who eventually trailed him to Kaduna”.
He said, “the taking away of Mallam Isah caused so much panic in the area. When they came, we thought they were security operatives, they were about seven of them and they came into the compound at about 6:30pm some few minutes before the Magrib prayers.
“They were shooting sporadically into the air and went straight for Mallam Isah who was performing ablution and whisked him into their vehicle, a Toyota Hiace Bus and zoomed off immediately”.
Another eyewitness who identified himself as Malam Shehu, said that, “as he was being taken away, Isah was screaming ‘Yan Boko Haram ne! ‘Yan Boko Haram ne!! (They are Boko Haram members!) Yet, nobody could come to his rescue because the men were heavily armed”.
However, soldiers arrested eight Boko Haram suspects at Ungwa Sarki some hours later.
But the spokesman of the Nigerian Army I Divisional Headquarters, Kaduna, Colonel Abubakar Edun, denied any knowledge of such arrest.
Similarly, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), of the state police command, a Deputy Superintendent, Aminu Lawan also said, he had not been briefed of any arrest.
Meanwhile, the ACF while condemning the suicide bomb blast that claimed 18 lives and destroyed properties worth millions of naira at St. Finbarr’s Catholic Church, Rayfield, Jos, on Sunday, said Nigerians would be helping Boko Haram to succeed in its plan to destroy Nigeria if they fail to collectively checkmate their activities.
A statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Anthony N. Z. Sani, said: “The Forum heartily condoles with the government and people of Plateau State, with the Catholic Church and families who lost loved ones and properties.
“The forum is seriously disheartened by a situation whereby innocent men are indoctrinated to kill themselves and innocent others. The ACF and northern leaders reiterate that all Nigerians of all religions, all the regions and of all ethnic extractions must stand up and deny the common enemy the pleasure of knocking our heads and unleashing religious conflict–which will do no one any good.
“If Nigerians fail to realize that the problem of insecurity across the nation is a collective responsibility aimed at checkmating the attackers, we would be helping them to succeed in their aspirations to destroy the country”, it reads.
ACF charged all Nigerians to prevent terrorism through community policing by keeping an eye on people with suspicious movements.
Amid rumour of fresh attack in Jos yesterday, there was a stampede even the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petrin said security chiefs would re-strategize on ways of checkmating Boko Haram. He was in Jos yesterday.
Daily Sun learnt that Christian and Muslim youths had gathered at the Angwa Rukuba junction Monday morning, ready for a showdown following the news that a youth was killed at Angwa Rukuba but soldiers quickly got to the scene to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.
The rumour of the attack got to most parts of Jos forcing traders to close their shops and rushing home while parents hurriedly went to schools to withdraw their children and wards.
By noon, the situation in the state was back to normal with people opening up their shops.
However, the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr. Ishaya Pam, has confirmed that seven more bodies were brought yesterday morning while one was deposited in the hospital on Sunday and one other had died in the hospital earlier bringing the total of those who died to nine.
The CDS who met with the security chiefs in Plateau State told journalists that he was told three people died at the church while three others gave up the ghost in the hospital bringing the total of people that died to six.
After visiting the scene of the blast, the CDS who held a closed-door meeting with Governor Jonah Jang, assured that the same way the security surmounted other challenges in the country in the past they would overcome the current ordeal.
According to him, “suicide bombing is an admittance of defeat (by the Boko Haram). It means you are not doing very well that is why you now allow members of your organization to start killing themselves.
“Otherwise, if you can achieve your aims without getting your members killed, you will do so. But, because the terrorists behind all this act have discovered that they have no any other means of inconveniencing the society, they resort to suicide bombing”.
Plateau State government spokesman, Pam Ayuba, said though the two Sunday attacks were not thought to be linked.
“Unknown gunmen, in an apparent ambush late Sunday, waylaid and shot dead three people and injured three others -all Christians, in Chugwi village,” Ayuba said: We suspect that the attackers were herdsmen. They left with the handset of those killed and called numbers on their phones to alert their (the victims’) relations that they were responsible for the killings,” he said from the scene of the attack.
Ayuba, who is a native of the Christian village, said no arrests have been made. The victims included two brothers aged 25 and 30, he said. Three other people at Dogo Garba, a nearby hamlet, were wounded by the same gunmen and were taken to a nearby government hospital, he added.
In Kano on Sunday, a Boko Haram member was disarmed and killed by a police officer, a statement by the police, has claimed.
According to the statement, which was made available to the Press on Monday, the incident happened at the residence of the said officer, adding that the gunmen came in a motorbike and attacked the officer.
Giving an account of the incident, the statement noted that at about 9a.m on Sunday, two armed men attacked a police officer at his residence in Tarauni Local Government Area of Kano, adding that the said officer disarmed one of the gunmen and shot him dead with the same riffle that he came with.
via Daily Sun
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