ABUJA -The
alleged mastermind of the Christmas day bomb blast that killed about 44 persons
and wounded 75 others at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church at Madalla, Niger State,
in 2011, Kabiru Umar, a.k.a Kabiru
Sokoto, Wednesday, told a Federal High Court in Abuja that though he was a high
profile member of the Islamic “Shurah Council” in Nigeria, he never joined the
Boko Haram sect.
Sokoto who
testified as his own witness, Wednesday, told the trial court that though he
initially had sympathy for the organization, he said his elder brother whose
name he gave as Suleiman Aliyu Sokoto, persistently warned him not to get
himself involved with the sect.
Speaking
through an interpreter, he said: “I am a member of the Shurah Council but not
under Boko Haram. I did not participate in any bombing,” he added.
When he was asked
by the prosecuting council, Mrs Chioma Onuegbu, if it is true that he got his
orders from Abu Shekau, Sokoto said: “As we all know, Shekau is a leader of
Boko Haram but not the Shura Council and it is not true that when I escaped
from police custody that I spoke to Shekau on phone.”Asked if he was aware that
it is Shekau that gives orders regarding where bomb attacks should be carried
out and that the sect had so many sections including a wing in charge or armed
robbery, the accused replied, “My lord, it can be so, I don’t know but so I
have been hearing.
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