THE Department of State Service has arrested fiveย personsย in connection with the April 14, 2014 bomb blast at the El-Rufai Motor Park, Nyanyaย in Abuja.
Theย ย suspectsย areย Ahmad Abubakar (aka Abu Ibrahim/Maiturare), Mohammed Ishaq,ย ย Yau Saidu (aka Kotar Rama), Anas Isah and Adamu Yusuf.
Theย DSS Deputy Director, Public Relations, Marilyn Ogar,ย who paraded the suspects in Abujaย on Monday,ย said the masterminds of the blast, Rufai Tsiga (aka Dr. Tsiga), and a military deserter, Aminuย Ogwuche, had been declared wanted.
Ogarย announced a cash reward of N25mย for information that could lead to their arrest.
She alsoย explained that Ogwuche with service number SVC 95/104 served in the intelligence unit of the Nigeria Army at Child Avenue, Arakan Barracks, Lagos between 2001 and 2006 and was posted to the Nigerian Defence Academy in 2006.
According to her, Ogwuche wasย once arrested on November 12, 2011 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on his arrival from the United Kingdom, for suspected involvement in terrorism-related activities.
She added that heย wasย ย released on bail on October 15, 2012 to his father, Col. Agene Ogwuche (retd.), following intense pressure from human rights activists who alleged human rights violation.
The DSS spokesperson further explained that investigation indicated that Tsiga and Ishaq moved a vehicle laden with explosives to the El-Rufai Motor Parkย on April 13,2014 night.
โIn the morning of April 14, Tsiga moved the explosives-laden vehicles to the position from where he detonated them,โ she added.
Ogar stated that Abubakar, who was arrested on April 22, 2014 at Gwantu, Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State, told interrogators that Tsiga confirmed to him that he (Tsiga) and other members of the Boko Haram carried out the attack on theย motor park.
She said, โAccording to Abubakar, Tsiga also told him thatย the Boko Haram leader had directed that all members of the sect should relocate with their families to โGaabaโ (Boko Haram forest camp) in preparation for mass attacks against the Nigerian state.โ
Ishaq, who was arrested at Utakoย behind Julius Berger Yard in Abuja following Abubakarโs confession, served as a sales boy in Tsigaโs patent medicine store calledย Kishi Clinic.
The clinic served as a base for Boko Haramโs covert activities in the FCT.
Ogar said,โIshaq revealed that two days before the Nyanya blast, Tsigaย ย informed him aroundย 4pmย after prayers that there was a plan to bomb a facility in Abuja, but stated that he was never informed of the exact location.
โHe further revealed that Tsiga later informed him that the bombs to be used for the blast were being coupled at the residence of one Adamu Yusuf and a day before the blast, he and Tsiga drove the car laden with explosives and parked it behind four buses inside the motorย park in Nyanya overnight, after which they left the area.โ
Yusuf, who denied involvement in the blast, admitted to journalists that he was a former member of the sect.
Yusuf, also a formerย cleric at the Finance Quarters Mosque, Wuse inย Abuja,ย ย identified other terror suspects as members of Bokoย Haram.
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Source: Punch
