Police make U turn over escape of Boko Haram kingpin •IGP says suspect sick, hospitalised •As Jonathan confronts IGP

Contrary to earlier denials by the Nigeria Police that they have no suspect  bearing the name Sani Mohammed or Mohammed Sani, arrested in connection with Boko Haram activities in their custody, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mohammed Abubakar, has reportedly owned up to having the suspect in custody.
A reliable Presidency source told the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja, on Sunday night, that in a sudden and dramatic twist of events, the IGP was said to have told President Goodluck Jonathan at a recent security meeting that the suspect,  Sani Mohammed,  arrested with one Kabiru Sokoto and another Air Force officer in Abuja by the police in January, in  connection with Boko Haram activities did not escape as rumoured, but was sick and taken to an undisclosed hospital for medical attention.
The source further hinted that the IGP said that when Sani Mohammed got to the hospital, he went through a surgical operation and had since then been receiving treatment in the same hospital.
According to the source, the new angle to the alleged escape of the suspect from police custody was a response to a question posed to the IGP by the president who asked for the whereabouts of the suspect during the Security Council meeting.
Said the source, “I can now tell you that the dust raised over the whereabouts of the Boko Haram suspect has been   cleared, the IGP has told the president face to face that the suspect did not escape but was sick and hospitalised.
The police, at the peak of the rumoured disappearance of the suspect from custody, dismissed the claim through the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Mr Frank Mba.
In the denial, Mba declared that the police, based on the available records at their disposal, had no suspect bearing Sani Mohammed or Mohammed Sani arrested in connection with Boko Haram activities in their custody.
Apart from the denial, the IGP set up a panel of inquiry to investigate the source of the rumoured escape of the suspect from custody.
Though  Mba could not be reached last night for comment as his telephone lines were not going through when contacted by the Nigerian Tribune,  another top police officer told our reporter in confidence that the rumoured escape of the Boko Haram suspect was a knotty issue which would be better explained by the officers in  charge and the police high command.