The Department of State Security, DSS, has paraded the two suspects, who allegedly carried out the bombing of the Saint Andrews Protestant Military Church at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State. The two suspects, whose names were given as Ibrahim Mohammed, aka Alilullah and Mohammed Ibrahim Idris, were paraded by the DSS Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Marylin Ogar, at a press briefing in Abuja.
Mohammed, 18, hails from Ilobu Village in Ilobu Local Government Area of Osun State, while Idris, 50, a yam hawker comes from Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.
Ogar said the two men would be handed over to the military for further investigation while other suspects arrested in connection with the bombing were being questioned by the service.
The DSS director maintained that the service was determined to work with Nigerians and bring to an end the evil activities of unpatriotic elements and restore peace and harmony to the society.
Mohammed confessed during interrogation that he was indoctrinated into the Boko Haram sect by one Bashir Madalla, who also trained him in the use of fire arms and the production and priming of Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs.
The suspect said he participated actively in several attacks in Kaduna including the one on St. Rita’s Catholic Church and Badarawa. He also said that the late Madalla sent one Mallam Lawal, one of the suicide bombers to Damaturu, Yobe State to retrieve some military uniforms and weapons from Boko Haram cells in the state and that the said Lawal often appears in military uniforms with the rank of a captain without being detected and arrested.
According to Mohammed, the Jaji attack was personally carried out by one Tasiu and Mallam Lawal who assumed the leadership of the sect in Kaduna following the death of Bashir Madalla.
He explained also that Lawal decided to personally carry out the attack since there was no other suitable person to be saddled with the deadly assignment due to time constraint.
The suspect admitted accompanying the bombers to the gate of the Armed Forces Military cantonment and bade them farewell and procuring the fertilizer used in priming the Toyota Matrix car that was used in the suicide mission.
The car, he admitted, had been parked in the residence of Mohammed Ibrahim Idris, which served as the sect’s safe haven. In his confession, Idris, admitted that he was also indoctrinated into the sect in August 2012 by a fellow yam hawker, Mallam Lawal after which he was relocated to Kaduna by Lawal and given a two-bedroom flat in Rafin Guza area in Kaduna, which serves as the sect’s operational base.
Idris said that he served as a motivational preacher and father figure for the sect as well as conduct surveillance on selected targets using the cover of a yam seller.
Worshipers at the St. Andrews Catholic Church were about to dismiss their morning mass when daredevils struck on November 27, 2012, killing several persons in the process.
The attack, which hit the military authorities below the belt, led to the removal of the Commandant of the AFCSC and the deployment of another officer to the institution.
Source: Elombah
