KANO – It was a bloody encounter, yesterday morning, at Tudun Wada town, 100km south of Kano when the Joint Military Taskforce gunned down nine suspected members of Boko Haram Islamic sect and arrested two others during a midnight combat operation.
This came as embattled lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District, Mohammed Ali Ndume, told a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja how the sect contacted him through telephone, even as he refuted the allegation that he furnished them with classified information that aided their terrorist operations in the country.
The military, acting on intelligence, had laid an ambush at major entry points to the town on Kano-Jos federal highway shortly after a report that some gunmen attacked the police station, DPO’s residence and an old generation bank in the town bordering Plateau State.
Briefing newsmen on the success of the operation, the GOC 3 Motorized Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Bukavu Barracks in Kano, Brigadier General Iliyasu Abba, revealed that high calibre weapons carted away from the station after the attack were recovered.
The Army chief said three vehicles used by the ‘enemy combatant’ during earlier attack at Tudun Wada town including their ‘logistic vehicle’ used to convey arms and ammunition were destroyed by the Armoured Personnel Carrier and recovered during the overnight raid.
Brigadier General Iliyasu Abba who was flanked by the Kano Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and the state Director, State Security Services during the briefing said “ We convinced ourselves that the attackers launched their operation from Kano and we quickly mobilised troops and blocked major entry point to Tudun Wada and it paid off handsomely.”
Brigadier Iliyasu Abba stated that the military is poised at containing the menace posed by the gunmen and called on the general public to cooperate and offer useful information that could assist the security forces achieve their set goals.
How Boko Haram contacted me—Ndume
Meanwhile, the embattled Senator Ndume who is answering to a four-count criminal charge preferred against him by the Federal Government, maintained that the reason the sect approached him was as a result of his being a member of the Presidential Committee inaugurated on August 2, 2011, with a view to addressing the security challenges in the North Eastern part of the nation.
According to Ndume, the first telephone exchange between him and the sect was on October 4, 2011, two months into the committee’s work.
The accused person who made these disclosures in a 24-paragraph affidavit he filed in support of his motion on notice seeking to quash the entire charge against him, told the high court that he had never been a member of the Jammatul Sunnah Walid Jihad (otherwise known as ‘Boko Haram’), insisting that it was the committee that mandated him to contact members of the sect to ascertain their demands.
The affidavit was deposed to by one Hauwa Abubakar, a legal practitioner in the chambers of counsel to the accused lawmaker, Messrs Rickey Tarfa, SAN.
Meantime, in his application dated March 19, Ndume is praying the trial court to quash the charge as well as discharge him from the matter.
When the case came up for hearing yesterday, the prosecuting counsel, Mrs. Olufunmilayo Fatunde, who is a Deputy Director of Public Prosecution in the Ministry of Justice, said she was not served with a copy of the motion, a claim that was refuted by the lawyer that represented Ndume, Mr Nganjiwa Hyelzria, who insisted that she was duly served.
Though the prosecutor later discovered that the said process was received by one of her juniors, however, she sought time to respond to the application, a request that was accordingly granted by trial Justice Gabriel Kolawole.
Consequently, Justice Kolawole gave the defence counsel seven days to file a written address in support of the application, just as he gave the prosecution 14 days to file a response. The case was subsequently adjourned till April 26, for the parties to exchange and adopt their respective briefs of argument.
It was a bloody encounter Wednesday morning at Tudun Wada town, 100km south of Kano when the Joint Military Taskforce gunned down 9 suspected members of Boko Haram and captured two during a midnight combat operation.
The military, acting on intelligence, had laid an ambush at major entry points to the town on Kano-Jos federal highway shortly after a report that some gunmen attacked the police station, DPO’s residence and an old generation bank in the town bordering Plateau State.
Briefing newsmen on the success of the operation, the GOC 3 Motorized Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Bukavu Barracks in Kano, Brigadier General Iliyasu Abba, revealed that high calibre weapons carted away from the station after the attack were recovered.
The Army chief said three vehicles used by the ‘enemy combatant’ during earlier attack at Tudun Wada town including their ‘logistic vehicle’ used to convey arms and ammunition were destroyed by the Armoured Personnel Carrier and recovered during the overnight raid.
Brigadier General Iliyasu Abba who was flanked by the Kano Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and the state Director, State Security Services during the briefing said “ We convinced ourselves that the attackers launched their operation from Kano and we quickly mobilised troops and blocked major entry point to Tudun Wada and it paid off handsomely.”
Brigadier Iliyasu Abba stated that the military is poised at containing the menace posed by the gunmen and called on the general public to cooperate and offer useful information that could assist the security forces achieve their set goals.
How Boko Haram contacted me—Ndume
Meanwhile, the embattled Senator Ndume who is answering to a four-count criminal charge preferred against him by the Federal Government, maintained that the reason the sect approached him was as a result of his being a member of the Presidential Committee inaugurated on August 2, 2011, with a view to addressing the security challenges in the North Eastern part of the nation.
According to Ndume, the first telephone exchange between him and the sect was on October 4, 2011, two months into the committee’s work.
The accused person who made these disclosures in a 24-paragraph affidavit he filed in support of his motion on notice seeking to quash the entire charge against him, told the high court that he had never been a member of the Jammatul Sunnah Walid Jihad (otherwise known as ‘Boko Haram’), insisting that it was the committee that mandated him to contact members of the sect to ascertain their demands.
The affidavit was deposed to by one Hauwa Abubakar, a legal practitioner in the chambers of counsel to the accused lawmaker, Messrs Rickey Tarfa, SAN.
Meantime, in his application dated March 19, Ndume is praying the trial court to quash the charge as well as discharge him from the matter.
When the case came up for hearing yesterday, the prosecuting counsel, Mrs. Olufunmilayo Fatunde, who is a Deputy Director of Public Prosecution in the Ministry of Justice, said she was not served with a copy of the motion, a claim that was refuted by the lawyer that represented Ndume, Mr Nganjiwa Hyelzria, who insisted that she was duly served.
Though the prosecutor later discovered that the said process was received by one of her juniors, however, she sought time to respond to the application, a request that was accordingly granted by trial Justice Gabriel Kolawole.
Consequently, Justice Kolawole gave the defence counsel seven days to file a written address in support of the application, just as he gave the prosecution 14 days to file a response. The case was subsequently adjourned till April 26, for the parties to exchange and adopt their respective briefs of argument.
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