For about seven hours, the State Security Service (SSS) yesterday grilled ex-Governor Modu Ali Sheriff over his alleged relationship with members of the Boko Haram sect.
The ex-Borno State helmsman is alleged to have been part of the formation of the sect to consolidate his political grip on the state.
The sect is believed to have helped the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to maintain an “incredible dominance” of politics since 2003.
For security agents, who have for one month been trying to interrogate Sheriff, the waiting game ended yesterday when he arrived at the SSS Abuja headquarters at 9.24a.m.
Clad in a white Babanriga with a brown cap to match, the ex-governor was taken to an office where he faced a barrage of questions from top intelligence chiefs on the Boko Haram menace.
Sheriff was realeased at about 4p.m.
A source, who pleaded not to be named because he is not officially permitted to speak, said: “The ex-governor came to the SSS on the prompting of the security agency. Perhaps it is just an invitation for him to explain what he knows about the Boko Haram group, his relationship with them and why Boko Haram members are targeting him, his relatives and closed associates.
“Remember, he was the Governor of Borno State, the theatre of this disturbance for eight years.”
Another source said: “For many weeks, we looked for the former governor. At a stage, we got a report that Sheriff had travelled to China but, I think he got a message that we might move against him and he decided to honour our invitation.
“One of the critical issues he would help the security agencies to unravel is the circumstance behind the killing of the leader of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, and some key leaders of the sect after they had been arrested on July 29, 2009.”
Yusuf, who was found hiding in a goat pen at his parents-in-law’s home, was killed at Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri. There were allegations that top leaders of the sect were killed by the police at the prompting of a top government official.
“We suspect official complicity in the Boko Haram insurgency and no other person could explain the situation in Borno State to us than Sheriff,” the source said.
Kaduna residents were yet to recover yesterday from the hangover of a bomb blast at Fokado Street, off Maiduguri Road that left more than 20 people seriously injured.
A victim of the blast, Mr Solomon Aliyu, 34, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) shortly after the incident that the blast occurred around 11:20 p.m., destroying three buildings.
Aliyu, who was injured on his left leg, was treated at a nearby clinic.
He said other victims with serious injuries were on admission and were being treated at Alba and Logus clinics on Constitution Road and Maiduguri Road.
Aliyu, who said he was escorted home by soldiers after receiving treatment at Alba clinic, added that security personnel were combing the area for suspects.
The co-ordinator of the Joint Security Task Force (Operation Yaki) in the state, Col. Gabriel Mamman, could not confirm the blast, but promised to do so after ascertaining the true position of things.
Another explosion occured last night in Madalla, near Suleja in Niger State, where bombs thrown into a church from a moving motorcycle killed four people on Sunday.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) last night confirmed the explosion in Madalla.
NEMA said nobody died or was injured. It said security men had condoned off the area.
Many Nigerians have been suggesting how to stop the violence.
Former Head of State Gen. Abdusalam Abubakar yesterday called on Boko Haram members to seek dialogue with the government to avoid further loss of innocent lives and property.
In an interview with NAN in Addis Ababa, the former Head of State said:
“Detonating bombs will not give them what they want; rather, it will give Nigeria and Nigerians a bad name.
“By detonating bombs, they are not doing justice to themselves, to the country and to the innocent Nigerians. Innocent people are being killed and terrorised. They should come out and talk so that the concerned authorities can address the issues.”
To Gen. Abubakar, the bombings have no religious connotations.
“I do not see any religious connection about the bombings because none of our religions allows such,” he said.
Also yesterday, the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) suggested sanitisation of the nation’s borders as a way of tackling the continued bombing by Boko Haram.
The AYCF called for Sheriff’s investigation, over the sect’s activities.
AYCF President Yerimma Shettima told NAN in Lagos that Sheriff should tell Nigerians what he knew about the sect that started during his tenure.
“The former governor should be in a better position to advise security operatives on how best to resolve the Boko Haram issue,” he said.
Shettima also said that there was need for Nigeria to control the influx of foreigners through the borders with Chad and Niger Republics.
“Our borders are so porous and people from Chad and Niger keep coming in to commit atrocities in Nigeria in the name of religion, giving the entire North a bad name.
“What happens in Nigeria where foreigners come in as they want, commit all sorts of crimes and get away with it cannot happen even in the Republic of Benin,” he noted.
He said only total sanity in the nation’s borders could help security operatives would stop the Boko Haram scourge.