The State
Security Service (SSS) 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.
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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