10th February, 2012
Security operatives have re-arrested the escaped mastermind of Madalla Christmas Day bombing, Kabiru Sokoto. A police source said Sokoto was rearrested in Jalingo, capital of Taraba State last night, in the home of an Islamic cleric in the Angwuan Gadi area, following the hints given by Abu Qaqa, the caged spokesman of the Boko Haram militants.
Another police source told P.M.News that the fugitive was arrested early today. But P.M.News learnt that Nigeria’s most wanted man, alleged to be the brain behind the bloody Christmas day bombing of the Catholic Church, has been flown to Abuja.
Kabiru was first arrested on 15 January at the official lodge of the Borno state governor in Abuja.
Twenty four after, Sokoto staged a James-Bond like dramatic escape in the hands of a police team led by Assistant Commissioner, Zakari Biu.
Sokoto escaped when the police team took him to his home in Abaji, Abuja, for a search.
The escape of the bombing mastermind was a big embarrassment for the police authorities and led to the sudden exit of the former inspector-general , Hafiz Ringim and the detention of Zakari Biu, who was investigated by a military panel.
Meanwhile, the Boko Haram militants are unrelenting in their war for an Islamic theocracy in Northern Nigeria as they violently muzzled a critic in Kano, the recent hotbed for the militants’ insurgency.
According to the AFP, the critic, known for publicly criticising the Boko Haram elements, was shot dead Thursday. Alhaji Muhammadu, 60, who shot by two men riding on motorcycles as he left a mosque in the Hoton Fulani area of the mainly Muslin northern city. He died in hospital.
“We had just finished our evening prayers and was heading home when two men on motorcycles stopped close to him and shot him twice before they drove off,” resident Maikudi Danlami, told AFP. “They were from all indications members of Boko Haram because after shooting him they said, ‘let’s see how you are going to be critical of us. Let’s see what your boasting can achieve,’ said Danlami who witnessed the shooting.
A nurse at a local hospital said Muhammadu was shot twice at close range. Residents said Muhammadu was known for openly criticising Boko Haram, who have claimed a series of attacks in Kano, including the 20 January assault that killed at least 185 people.
“He never hid his aversion to Boko Haram and would voiced his disapproval of the sect publicly,” said Hassan Kawu, another resident.
The Boko Haram insurgency has already claimed close to 1000 lives since last year. Last December, more than 40 people were killed in a suicide bomb of St. Theresa Church in Madalla, near Abuja.
The Boko Haram militants have largely attacked churches and police stations. In a leaflet distributed around Kano last month, Boko Haram said it would target any one who collaborates against the group “even if he is a Muslim.”