How Kabiru Sokoto escaped from police custody – Senate report •Says 58 policemen arrested him at night

Posted by admin Headlines, Legislature, Senate Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

CHAIRMAN, Senate Committee on Poice Affairs, Senator Paulinus Nwagu, on Tuesday, presented the report of the investigative committee to the Senate, giving a blow by blow account of how Boko Haram kingpin, Kabiru Sokoto, disappeared from police custody.

Sokoto, initially arrested on January 14, had dramatically escaped from police custody within 24 hours of arrest, while police investigators were taking him to Abaji, a suburb of Abuja, to search his house.

Worried by the disappearance of the suspect, the Senate charged its committee on Police Affairs to probe the circumstances surrounding his escape.

Nwagu said the findings of the committee were based on interactions with the National Security Adviser (NSA); Minister of Police Affairs; chairman, Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Inspector General of Police.

According to him, “police intelligence revealed that prior to his arrest on January 14, Kabiru Sokoto had been in the check list of Boko Haram members.

Sokoto was reported to have been noticed within the vicinity of Snake Island, Lagos and left Lagos sometime on December 13, 2011, while he disappeared from surveillance monitoring until January 11, 2012. He was later traced to Abaji in the Federal Capital Territory.

“Police detectives traced him from Abaji to Abuja on the same date and further traced him to Asokoro- Abuja, where he was finally apprehended at about 2.40 a.m on January 14, at the Borno State Governor’s Lodge, at Iro Dan Musa Street, Asokoro, Abuja.

“The arrest was conducted by a combined team of police officers and men comprising operatives from the Force Analytical Tracking and Intelligence Centre, as well as Combat Teams from the Police Mobile Force totaling 58 officers and men.

“On arrival at the residence of the suspect at Bulletin Quarters, Abaji, the team met one Adamu Salihu, son of the Onah of Abaji, in the FCT who was a neighbour of the suspect.

“Salihu, who was later discovered to be a close associate of Kabiru Sokoto, as well as a suspected member of Boko Haram, suddenly went into his room, came out with a copy of the Qur’an, recited Quranic verses and with a loud shout of Allahu-Akbar, mobilised nearby youths who attacked the police with hard objects and forcibly took over the suspect whom they whisked away to an undisclosed location.

“Immediate efforts to recover the suspect indicated that the duo of one Jibrin Aliyu alias Kaska and one Abdullahi Sidi alias Bamanga had informed one Mohammed Gambo that the principal suspect was with Jibrin Aliyu,” the report said.

The Senate, thereafter, adopted two of the seven recommendations. The recommendations urged members of the public to assist the security agencies by providing relevant information.

It also accepted the recommendation that Zakari Biu and others involved in the escape of Kabiru Sokoto have their prosecution expedited, to serve as a deterrent to other security operatives.

However, the senators rejected the recommendation that the office of the Coordinator on Counter-Terrorism established in the National Security Advisers’ office should be strengthened through Legislative Act.

They also rejected the recommendation for the establishment of a joint border patrol to include the Nigeria Police Force, the Armed Forces, Immigration Service, Customs Service, State Security Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, to check the challenges of the countries porous borders.

-Tribunewp_posts