SSS Beefs Up Security Around Kabiru Sokoto

Gen. Owoye  Azazi, National Security Adviser

Security has been beefed up around Kabiru Abubakar Dikko, alias Kabiru Sokoto, a Boko Haram chief suspected of masterminding the Christmas Day bombing of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, who was re-arrested on Friday.

THISDAY gathered yesterday that access has been restricted to the suspect, who was re-arrested in Mutum-Biyu, Taraba State, after he escaped while a team of policemen was taking him to his Abaji home in the Federal Capital Terri-tory for a search to be conducted on it.

Sources said information about where he is being detained and those guarding him is restricted because of fear that the suspect, who masterminded the bombing that killed over 45 people last Christmas, could be a target of assassination by Boko Haram in a bid to prevent him from revealing all he knows about the terrorist group’s operations.

Besides, security agents are anxious about his safety following fears that Boko Haram sympathisers in security circle and in government may want to take steps to prevent him from revealing those suspected to have facilitated his escape last month, for which a commissioner of police, Zakari Biu, is being detained.

The fear for Sokoto’s safety came just as National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi, warned that Boko Haram have links in government and could extend its attacks to previously safe parts of the country.

Sokoto is the second high-ranking Boko Haram chief in custody after the arrest of the group’s spokesman, Abul Qaqa, in Kaduna.

Sources also said a crack team of intelligence experts has been raised to grill the suspect with a view to getting to the root of Boko Haram activities and their sponsors.

THISDAY learnt that the arrest of Sokoto is halting the proposed arraignment of Biu because the prosecution would need to update the charge to be preferred against him based on the outcome of the interrogation of the suspect.

Azazi, in an interview with Financial Times, published in the Friday’s edition of the newspaper, also said it would be difficult to engage Boko Haram in dialogue because of its peculiar style of organisation.

The presidential security adviser who spoke against the background of the deadly attacks by the group on Kano and Kaduna, said: “When I speak to governors, I say it possible (for the attacks) to happen anywhere.  These people (militants) wear shirts and trousers. They don’t have marks on their heads saying Boko Haram. They look and sound like everybody. It tells you that we have them among us.” 

He said security forces had recovered training manuals written in Arabic, training videos, and “martyr videos” recorded by Boko Haram suicide bombers.

“I watched videos of their weapons training, which is very professional. They are also innovative in making IEDS (improvised explosive devices). I want to believe very strongly that there is outside assistance. We are thinking of al-Qaeda in the Maghreb,” he added.

According to him, the militants easily slipped across the porous borders with Niger, Chad and Cameroon, adding that it is taking time for security forces to master counter terror tactics.

“Crimes we were used to are armed robbery and car snatching. But Boko Haram has suicide bombers with explosives,” he said.

He expressed concern over the January 20 attacks on Kano in which about 200 people died, saying  “The attack was a big shock and a setback for us. Our feeling was … people did not expect a city like that to be attacked. If they can come to a place like Kano that is neutral and cause mayhem in a predominantly Muslim city ... that woke people up.”

On the call for dialogue with the insurgents, Azazi said a negotiated end to the conflict was difficult, as Boko Haram’s leaders remain in the shadows.
“Some people say that we must reach out to them. But if you reach out to somebody 10 steps away from the centre, you are wasting your time,”  he said.