A spokesman for the Boko Haram Islamic sect, Ali Konduga, a.k.a. Al-Zawahiri, has named a former Nigerian ambassador and a serving senator as sponsors of the group. Konduga, who said he was under suspension from the group, is currently being held by the State Security Service, SSS. He told reporters in Abuja yesterday that former Ambassador Saidu Pindar was one of their benefactors who promised to pay him N10m to work for his party but died in a car accident while on his way to deliver N5m as part payment. After his death, he said a serving senator, Ali Ndume, took over as sponsor and that he (Al-Zawahiri) was behind the text messages sent to threaten the judges of the election petition tribunal in Maiduguri the Borno State capital.
According to him, NdumeÕs objective is to ensure that the tribunal sacks the present government in Borno State. Ndume was a former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives; he was in the House between 2003 and 2011 and was elected on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP. He defected to the PDP in the build-up to the April poll. He defeated the then Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of the ANPP for the Borno South Senatorial District. Pindar was the deputy governorship candidate of the PDP in the April 26 poll in Borno State.
DSS Deputy Director, Public Relations, Marilyn Ogar, said an analysis of Al- ZawahiriÕs phone confirmed constant communication between him and the senator. She said Al- Zawahiri also confessed that he was behind other text messages sent to Governor Sule Lamido, Governor Babangida Aliyu, Ambassador Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Justice Sabo Adamu and an ex- minister. He alleged that Ndume told him to send a text message to the ex-minister to remind him that he sabotaged the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in its attempt to win the last election in Borno State.
Other confessional statements, according to Ogar, were:
That most of the threat messages he sent to Justice Sabo Adamu were scripted and relayed to him by the lawmaker.
That the threat text messages eventually led to the relocation of the election petition tribunal from Maiduguri to Abuja
That the telephone number and content of the text messages sent to the attorney-general and minister of justice were also given to him by the legislator to compel him (the AGF) to influence the judgement of the tribunal against the state government.
That he was recruited by a political party stalwart in Maiduguri and following the compulsory registration of SIM cards nationwide, he was asked to steal a SIM card which he used in sending the threat text messages.
That the pseudo-name, Usman al-Zawahiri, was given to him by the said politician to portray him as an extremist and to conceal his true identity.
That the threat text message to Obasanjo was sent to him because he was supporting Ali Modu Sheriff while he was governor of Borno State.
That the legislator promised to send him some telephone numbers of members of the Galtimari committee on security in the North East before he Al Zawahiri was apprehended Konduga, however, explained that though they were not affiliated to the PDP, the sect did not want the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, government in Borno State and that the sect would only accept Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA and PDP government because they believed that only those parties could reconcile them.
He claimed to be the lone spokesman for Boko Haram from inception before the members were dislodged.
But, according to him, when they regrouped, three persons: Abu Kaka, Abu Zaid and Abu Dada emerged as spokesmen following suspicion that he was leaking information about the sect to security operatives, he was subsequently suspended. Ogar said the suspect was a former political thug operating under a group called ECOMOG. He was arrested on November 3, 2011 about 8.30pm at Gwange area of Maiduguri. ÒHis arrest further confirms the service position that some of the Boko Haram extremists have political patronage and sponsorship.
This is more so as Al- Zawahri has so far made available confessions in this regard. Analysis of Al-ZawahiriÕs phone has confirmed constant communication between him and the legislator. The service wishes to reiterate its commitment to addressing the current threats posed by the Islamic sect and other forms of fundamentalism in the country, including the dimensions of political patronage and sponsorship of extremist and violent groups, the SSS spokesman said. She called on Nigerians to sustain their confidence in the nations security outfit in their duty for a safe and peaceful country.
Al- Zawahiri, however, did not answer our correspondentÕs enquiry if his group enjoyed sponsorship from al-Qaeda or any foreign country. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, has challenged the northern elite in the country to intervene in the recurrent bombings perpetuated by Boko Haram in some parts of the Northern states. Speaking yesterday at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, Oritsejafor said that the Northern elite had vital roles to play in the bombings, saying that when kidnapping and bombing of oil stations took the centre stage in Niger Delta, the elite in the region took up the challenge of ensuring peace and stability.
The CAN president insisted that those who were perpetuating the criminal acts were not ghosts, but youths residing among the people and wondered why it had been difficult for the security agencies to curb their illicit act. ÒWeÕve said it before and we will continue to say it. A lot of the people who are supposed to help solve the problem, unfortunately, are looking first at their religion and when you do that, then Nigeria as a nation will be in trouble. So we must find ways to fish out this kind of people in the security agencies so that that aspect can be dealt with. How do you bomb the headquarters of police without the police knowing or without the people working with somebody inside?