The lecturer(left) and other suspects being paraded by the State Security Service in Abuja.... on Wednesday
The
State Security Service on Wednesday in Abuja paraded an assistant
lecturer in Arabic and Islamic studies at the Kogi State University,
Ayingba, Muhammad Yunus, for recruiting and coordinating a Boko Haram
terror cell in Kogi State.
The service said Yunus, who is the
spiritual leader, runs a terror group which comprised Umar Musa, head of
operations/ instructor; Mustapha Yusuf (aka Habib); armourer/chief
courier, Ismaila Abdulazeez, a foot soldier; and Ibrahim Isah (a.k.a one in town), who is also a foot soldier.
SSS Deputy Director, Media and Public
Relations, Marilyn Ogar, while briefing newsmen, explained that the
terror cell planned to launch attacks in Kogi State before they were
apprehended.
She explained that until his arrest,
Yunus had held several preaching sessions every last Saturday and Sunday
of the month at Ethnosho Secondary School, Ojiolo, Dekina Local
Government Area of Kogi State where he had about 80 adherents.
Similarly, the suspect held another
session every Friday at the Kogi State University mosque, Ayingba, where
he had about 120 followers, whom he taught the virtues of Jihad and the
sanctity of the Sharia law as an alternative form of governance and its
entrenchment in the state and beyond.
Ogar said the lecturer, said to be a very
active member of the Academic Staff Union of Universities in KSU,
maintained extensive links with Boko Haram cells in Borno State where he
referred some of his followers to terrorist training.
“In March 2013, he facilitated the trip
of two of his adherents to Boko Haram’s Sambisa Camp in Maiduguri, Bornu
State where they received training in weapon handling. They are
Mustapha Yusuf and Ismaila Abdulazeez who are now under arrest. They
were able to escape and returned back to him in August 2013, following
the military invasion of the camp,” she said.
The SSS spokesperson said Yunus holds a
Masters degree from the University of Jos and a Ph.D in Arabic and
Islamic Studies from KSU, in 2012.
Yunus denied being a Boko Haram member
when questioned by journalists, but his claim was punctured by Yusuf,
Abdulazeez and Isah who insisted that he had been teaching them about
Jihad and how to exploit it to instal Sharia in Kogi State.
Yunus, who admitted knowing his
accomplices, alleged that he was set up, adding that Islam which he
preached, did not endorse blood-shedding.
“I don’t have any link with Boko Haram,
in fact I preached against them, that is why they have set me up. You
can go to Jos and ask for my tapes, I preached against them. Islam
doesn’t support blood-shedding and I don’t support it too,” he said.
One of the suspects, Isah said he was in
company with Umar and Abdulazeez on their way to Maiduguri, Bornu State
for training when they were arrested at a mosque in Zuba, near Abuja.
Abdulazeez said he was indoctrinated by
Yusuf in Nyanya, Abuja and he subsequently travelled to Ayingba to see
Yunus who directed him to go with Isah to Maiduguri, but their trip was
aborted by their arrest.
Meanwhile, arraignment of a suspected
Boko Haram member, Abdulmanam Abidiki, could not hold on Wednesday due
to the absence of his defence lawyer.
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