Boko Haram amnesty panel lied, says Kabiru Sokoto

IT was a jolty twist Monday to efforts to broker a truce between Boko Haram insurgents and the Federal Government. The suspected mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, Kabiru Umar (a.k.a Kabiru Sokoto), Monday told the court where he is being tried that he never met with members of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, also known as Amnesty Committee.

The Minister for Special Duties, Mr. Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, had recently claimed that his 25-member amnesty committee met with members of Boko Haram, including Kabiru Sokoto, and that the meeting took place at the Kuje Minimum Security Prison, Abuja, where many suspected members of the group are being detained.

Turaki had reportedly told Nigerians that the parley was a confidence-building measure between the committee and members of the Boko Haram.

He also claimed that the meeting was held in secret and that they had useful discussion with the detained members of the group.

But Sokoto told journalists Monday that the acclaimed meeting of the committee with him was a ruse as he was undergoing trial before Justice Adeniyi Ademola on the said date of the meeting.

Sokoto, speaking through his lawyer, Mr. Sherrif Okoh, told reporters at the Federal High Court, Abuja Division shortly after his trial was adjourned, that the claim by the amnesty committee was a blatant lie.

“Our client has confided in us that he never met with the amnesty committee. Even on the said date of the purported meeting, Kabiru Sokoto was before Justice Ademola Adeniyi. So, we wonder where they met him”, Sokoto’s lawyer queried.

The lawyer, who appeared infuriated, maintained that Sokoto had been in the custody of the SSS and expressed surprise that a high-profile panel like the amnesty committee would come out and tell Nigerians that they met with the accused person at Kuje Prison.

“These members of the amnesty committee have been brandishing lies, it is very wrong of them to come and say they held a meeting with Kabiru Sokoto; in fact, Kabiru has been in the SSS custody, he was not in Kuje Prison; so it was a pure lie for a committee of respected, eminent and dignified persons to say they held a meeting with our client,” he revealed.

Even before Sokoto’s lawyer raised the alarm over the purported meeting, Justice Ademola Adeniyi was the first to express surprise over the claim by the committee that it held a meeting with the accused man.

The trial judge said he was bewildered when he read reports that the amnesty committee said it visited and held a meeting with Sokoto at Kuje Prison.

“The accused person is supposed to be under the custody of the State Security Service (SSS); in fact, he was in court from morning to evening. But the next day, the press reported that the amnesty committee members said they visited and held a meeting with Kabiru Sokoto in Kuje Prison, this is funny”, Justice Adeniyi said.

Meanwhile, a prosecuting witness, Mr. ABC upon cross- examination by Sokoto’s lawyer, told the court that the suspect had mentioned to him that Bashir Mohammed and Mukhtari Kafanchan were the people that carried out the Christmas Day blast of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State.

ABC said the blast was not a suicide bombing but a co-ordinated attack, which was perpetrated with the knowledge of the accused person.

“The Madalla blast was not executed by a suicide bomber. It emanated from a car parked at the passage way of the church, which was detonated. That was actually what happened and there were no charred remains of persons found in the car after the blast that suggested it was a suicide attack,” ABC told the court during his cross-examination by Okoh.

ABC, however, said Sokoto did not tell him that he parked the car but insisted (ABC) he had knowledge of the said vehicle.

Also, the prosecution witness said the split in the hierarchy of Boko Haram was caused by N40 million according to the revelation of the accused person, and that the terror suspect told him he got the sum of N500,000.00 as his share and that he used part of the money to buy Quran and other books.

Upon closing his cross-examination, Sokoto’s lawyer, Okoh, told the prosecution witness that was masked; “I put it to you that everything you said before this court is a lie.”

Another prosecution witness, Mr. DEF, personnel with the Department of State Security, told the court upon examination by Mrs. Chioma Onuegbu on behalf of the state how he led a team that re-arrested Sokoto in Sabon-Gida, Taraba State, on February 10, 2012.

While being cross-examined by Sokoto’s lawyer, DEF told the court he found one Nokia phone and six SIM cards with the accused man at the time he was re-arrested.

The matter has been adjourned to May 16 and 17 for the prosecution to bring more witnesses to testify before the court.



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