Service (SSS) in concert
with soldiers yesterday,
re-arrested and paraded
the suspected Boko
Haram member, Kabiru
Abubakar Dikko, alias
Kabiru Sokoto, the
alleged mastermind in
the Christmas Day,
2011 bombing of the
Saint Theresa’s Catholic
Church in Madalla, Niger
State.
Kabiru Sokoto, born on
May 9, 1983, was first
arrested by the police in
the middle of January,
but escaped from
lawful custody on
January 15 at Abaji, a
suburb of Abuja, under
very questionable
circumstances, leading
to so much anxiety
within the nation’s
security circle and the
country at large.
Consequent upon his
escape, the
Commissioner of police
(CP), Zakari Biu, who
was said to have sent a
team of few policemen
in a Toyota Hilux, to
conduct a search in
Kabiru’s residence
during which he
escaped, was
suspended from service
while the erstwhile
Inspector General of
Police (IGP) Hafiz Ringim
was compulsorily
retired from office
after being queried by
the Presidency.
Few days after his
escape, the police had
declared Kabiru wanted
and placed a N50million
ransom on his head for
whoever could produce
him, but it appeared
that the moves were
insufficient to have
smoked him out from
his hiding.
However, since Kabiru
could not run for too
long, Soldiers and
personnel of the State
Security Service, who
had been on his trail,
were able to actually re-
arrest him on February
10, at about 0430 hours.
Addressing security
correspondents in
Abuja, the Deputy
Director Public Relations
of the Service, Marilyn
Ogar, who said that
Kabiru Sokoto was
presented hot to the
press to avoid
speculations, however
kept mum on how he
escaped from custody,
claiming that they had
no opportunity of
interrogating him before
his parade.
Ogar, who told
journalists that the re-
arrest was a joint
effort of the military
and the SSS, said that
he was rearrested at
Mutum-Biu in Gassol
Local Government Area
of Taraba State.
“Kabir Sokoto, who
has been linked with
the Christmas Day
bombings at Madalla,
Suleja, Niger State, was
picked up from where
he was hiding in a
clothes-rack, at the
residence of an
accomplice. On his
escape, he had taken
refuge at Umaisha in
Toto Local Government
Area (LGA) of
Nasarawa State before
he fled to Taraba State
where he was
eventually rearrested,”
she said.
In view of this, the SSS
disclosed that the
accomplices, who could
not give Kabiru up in
spite of the whopping
N50million ransom,
were also arrested with
him, but were not
paraded.
Umar had escaped on
January 14, barely two
days after being picked
up at the Borno State
Governor’s lodge in
Abuja, following an
intensive surveillance on
him for six months by
66 police detectives
drawn from the Force
Criminal Investigation
Department (FCID), the
Counter Terrorism Unit
and Criminal
Investigation Bureau.
It was learnt that
majority of the officers
involved in monitoring
his movement for
almost six months
before his arrest in
Abuja, were about 45
Assistant
Superintendents of
police (ASPs) who were
trained on tracking
devices and counter-
terrorism operations in
Israel, shortly after the
bombing of the police
force headquarters on
June 16, last year.
It was also gathered
that an analysis of his
mobile phone recovered
by police detectives
after his arrest, had
revealed stunning
recorded conversations
with frontline members
of the Boko Haram sect
as well as some
prominent members of
the society.
Among such recordings
in the phone, according
to highly dependable
sources, was his
conversation with the
suicide bomber who
struck at the Louis Edet
House police
headquarters in Abuja,
a few moments before
the attack.
“It was embarrassing
and painful that Kabir
Sokoto escaped from
custody after his arrest
which took time and
concerted efforts to
actualize. It is true that
his phone had been
recovered, and I can tell
you that the recordings
therein are stunning.
There are so many
highly placed individuals,
mostly politicians,
involved. And from all
indications, the suspect
was deeply involved in
most of the bombings.
In fact, he was the co-
coordinator.
“The suicide bomber
who attacked the force
headquarters in Abuja
made a last minute
phone call within the
radius of the Federal
Secretariat in Abuja on
the day of the incident.
And that call from the
bomber was placed to
Kabiru. And there are
several of such calls and
recordings in his phone
linked to influential
politicians and top
government officials”, a
security source who
pleaded anonymity,
confided in our
correspondent.
Kabiru, is said to have
been born to the family
of Umaru Jabbi of Gagi
village, Sokoto south
LGA of Sokoto State.
Upon the death of his
father, he was adopted
by his paternal uncle,
Abubakar Dikko and
renamed after him.
He was said to have
completed his primary
education at Model
Primary School, Gagi
town in 1996. Although
he enrolled for
Secondary education at
the Ahmadu Bello
Academy in 1996, he
absconded shortly after
and reapplied for
admission as a fresh
Junior Secondary School
(JSS) one student in
Sultan Bello Secondary
School, Sokoto South
LGA, from where he
eventually graduated in
2003.
In 2005, he was said to
have gained admission
into the College of
Nursing and Midwifery,
Sokoto. At the school,
Kabiru was alleged to
have exhibited high level
truancy and extremist
tendencies, a situation
which accounted for his
poor academic
performance.
In mid-2007, he was
said to have absconded
again from the
institution when he
refused to re-sit some
papers he failed in
examination.
He was said to have
been instrumental to
the visit of the late
National leader of the
Boko Haram Sect,
Mohammed Yusuf, to
Gagi village in February,
2009, during which he
was declared leader of
the Sect in Sokoto
State.
Assuring that the
security agencies were
poised to bring to an
end the activities of a
few unscrupulous
elements, Ogar said
that investigation on
Kabir Sokoto was still
ongoing, adding that as
soon as it was
completed, he would be
charged appropriately to
court.
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