The man widely acclaimed to be the spokesman for Nigeria’s Islamic sect Boko Haram, Abul Qaga, has denied reports by the State Security Service (SSS) that he was arrested on Wednesday.
However, the man who said he was Qaga, in a teleconference with local journalists in Maiduguri on Thursday, said the man who was arrested was Abu Dardaa, the sect’s head of enlightenment, according to the report of the phone calls carried by the private Punch newspaper on Friday.
He said Dardaa was arrested when he was sent to explore to prepare the ground for dialogue with government.
“We want to react on what security agents said in respect of the arrest of one of our own. The person that was arrested was Abu Dardaa, and not Abu Qaqa. I am Abul Qaqa, the spokesman of the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnati Lidda’awati Wal Jihad. Abul Dardaa is the head of the Lagina (Department) of public enlightenment and not the spokesman.
“The arrest of Abu Dardaa is an outright deception and betrayal by the Nigerian government and security agents. They proclaimed dialogue and are doing the opposite. His arrest has proven to us that they were waiting for us to avail ourselves so that they can arrest us.
“We purposely sent Abul Dardaa to Kaduna to discuss with some key government functionaries on the issue of dialogue. Indeed, he had started talking to them but, unknown to him, they directed some security agents to trail him and arrest him. This was exactly what happened,” the man who claimed to be Qaga said.
The SSS has yet to comment on the sect’s claim, and PANA cannot independently confirm whether or not the man who initiated the teleconference was Qaga.