The Nation Newspaper

Tag: SENATOR

  • Boko Haram: My arrested nephew a drug addict – Senator

    Senator Khlaifa Ahmad Zannah on Monday disclosed that he knew that his nephew, Shuaibu Bama arrested by the Joint Task Force for allegedly being one of the commanders of the Boko Haram Islamic sect is of a “bad character” and a “drug addict.”

    The embattled Senator representing Bornu Central told reporters at a press conference in Abuja that he was not aware that Bama was a Boko Haram member.

    He decried the activities of the JTF personnel in Maiduguri, saying all their atrocities are not known by the public.

    He blamed the “mixing of politics with security” for the escalating menace of Boko Haram insurgency in the area.

    He added that the former governor of the state Ali Modu Sheriff was colluding with the JTF to tarnish his image for political gain.

    Zannah said: “I was never told or contacted by anybody that they are looking for Bama. I saw him about six months ago.

    “He lives around that area although for the past four months, I have not gone home. I went for an operation outside the country.

    “I never knew him (Bama) to be a member of Boko Haram. But I know him to be of a bad character and a drug addict.”

    The Senator said he strongly believes that ex-governor Modu Sheriff masterminded the allegation that Bama was arrested in his house.

    He said: “I think so because the JTF is taking more directives from him (Modu Sheriff) than anybody in this country.

    “Wherever he goes to in Maiduguri, the paraphernalia employed to welcome him cannot be done even to the president.”

     

     

  • Boko Haram: Security agencies grill sect commander, probe Senator

    Boko Haram: Security agencies grill sect commander, probe Senator

    • Suspect was not arrested in my residence but he is my nephew, says Senator

    Security agencies yesterday in Abuja began the interrogation of a Boko Haram Commander, Shuaibu Mohammed Bama, who was allegedly arrested in the house of a serving Senator, Ahmed Khalifa Zanna, on Thursday in Maiduguri.

    The agencies are also probing the activities of the Senator on his relationship with the Boko Haram Commander.

    But Senator Zanna said the Commander was not arrested at his residence, contrary to the claim of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno State.

    The Boko Haram leader was picked up on Thursday in a house on Damboa in Maiduguri.

    A source said: “We have started interrogating the sect Commander and so far he has given useful information to security agencies.

    “When some operatives of the JTF stormed the Senator’s residence, some members of his immediate family confirmed that Bama is a relation of the Senator.”

    The source however claimed that despite the denial of the Senator, his activities are being probed.

    He said: “The ongoing probe will determine the level of his culpability. We will then be able to determine whether we should arrest him or not. But so far, we are looking at the activities of the Senator.

    “For a while, the Senator, from Borno Central, had been placed under surveillance following repeated security reports of his alleged link with one of the Boko Haram leaders.

    “As a matter of fact, a former Commissioner of Police in Borno once claimed that some of the loyalists of the Senator had links with Boko Haram.

    “But security agencies became curious when the Senator was persistently speaking to BBC, VOA and other international media calling for the withdrawal of soldiers from Borno State.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “No one is declaring the Senator guilty but certainly for a Boko Haram Commander to be linked to him, security agencies cannot gloss over it.

    “When we finish preliminary findings, the public will be briefed accordingly. But so far, the latest arrest confirmed our suspicion that the Boko Haram menace had insider’s knowledge.”

    Senator Zanna only confirmed that the Boko Haram Commander is his nephew.

    He denied that the suspect was in his house.

    He said: “They said they arrested the man in the house of a lawmaker in Damboa Road, and there is no any lawmaker in Damboa Road except me.

    “They did not arrest him in my house, they went to my house but did not find him, and instead they arrested children in my house and put them inside the hot sun and started beating them. And they asked them whether they knew Shuaibu Bama, and one of the boys answered yes. He then took them to where they arrested Shuaibu Bama.

    “Shuaibu Bama is a son of my sister. But the lie is what they are saying that they arrested him in my house, which is a lie. And we cannot hide or harbour a Boko Haram sect member.

    “And since he was not arrested in my house, they should go and investigate his relationship with people they arrested him in their house. I don’t know anything about it and just heard yesterday.”

     

  • Obajana Road: Kogi groups to bar Senator, Reps from coming home

    The agitation for the reconstruction of the dilapidated Obajana-Kabba-Egbe Road took a dramatic dimension yesterday as some youths in Okunland, Kogi West Senatorial District, in separate statements  resolved to constitute themselves into a militancy movement that would restrict members of the National Assembly from the zone from coming home “if the Federal Government fails to act before December.”

    Those affected, according to the groups, are Senator Smart Adeyemi, representing Kogi West District, Tajudeen Yusuf, representing Kabba-Bunu-Ijumu Federal Constituency and Sunday Karimi, representing Yagba West, Yagba East and Mopamuro Federal Constituency.

    In a joint statement, Yagba Change Agent Group (YACAG), Okun Youth Initiative (OYI), Association for Better Okun Youth (ABOY) and Okun Summit, said a movement of socio-political, cultural, women, professional bodies and students’ union organisations, after a meeting, had communicated their intention to the affected National Assembly members.