•Remanded in SSS custody •Mixed reactions trail arrest •The law must take its course - Senate
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
THE State Security Service (SSS), on Tuesday, arraigned Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume and the former spokesman for the Boko Haram sect, Umaru Konduga Ali, who is also known as Usman Al-Zawahiri, before an Abuja chief magistrates’ court for breach of official trust and criminal intimidation by anonymous communication.
When the First Information Report (FIR) was read to them, Ndume pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge while Al-Zawahiri pleaded guilty.
Following this, the trial magistrate, Chief Magistrate Oyebola Oyewumi, asked Al-Zawahiri to tell the court why he should not be sentenced outright having pleaded guilty to the charge.
In his response, Al-Zawahiri, who originally spoke in Hausa, admitted that he committed the offence as charged.
He pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, even as he disclosed to the court that he was behind the threat text messages sent to the judges of the election petitions tribunal sitting in Maiduguri, especially in recent times.
Besides, he claimed that he was responsible for the threat message that was sent to the governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, and counterpart in Niger State, Babangida Aliyu.
Other recipients of the threat messages, the former Boko Haram sect spokesman said, were Senator Sanusi Daggash (former Minister of Works) and Ambassador Dalhatu Tafida, (Nigeria’s ambassador to the United Kingdom).
Specifically, he revealed that the threat messages to the governors and the other personalities were to the effect that if they failed to meet up with the condition given to them by the Boko Haram sect, they would be dealt with.
He also alleged that the said text messages were written and sent to him by Senator Ndume with the phone numbers of the personalities for onward delivery to them.
In view of the revelation, Chief Magistrate Oyewumi convicted Al-Zawahiri in line with Section 318 of the Criminal Code Law but stayed the sentence.
Earlier, counsel for the SSS, Mr Steve Osagie, had pleaded with the court to stay the sentence so as to enable them to conclude investigation in respect of the link existing between Senator Ndume and the convict.
The chief magistrate also ruled that Senator Ndume should be allowed to have unhindered access to medical facilities and his team of lawyers.
Senator Ndume told the court that he was invited by the SSS on Monday and that he never thought he would pass the night there, hence, he did not take his drugs along and that he was suffering from prostate cancer.
Counsel for Ndume, C.I Nnaemeka, brought an oral application praying the court to admit his client to bail, being a serving senator but the trial magistrate asked him to apply for bail formally.
The matter was adjourned till December 6, 2011, by 12 noon for hearing of the bail application.
The court ordered that the two accused be remanded in SSS custody till the adjournment date.
Senate
Meanwhile, the Senate, on Tuesday, declared that it would allow the law to take its full course on Senator Ndume, who is alleged to be a backer of the Boko Haram sect.
Senate spokesman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who made the declaration at a press briefing in the Senate, said that the senator was, however, regarded as innocent until proven guilty by the laws of the land.
Abaribe’s briefing came after an executive session was held to deliberate on the matter and other national issues.
After the session, the Senate president Mr David Mark, disclosed that “the purpose of the executive session was to discuss matters that border on national security, national interest and matters that border on the smooth running of the National Assembly,” but it was learnt that the meeting primarily focused on the allegation against Senator Ndume.
A source from the meeting said it was agreed that “the matter is purely a security issue, the law should be allowed to take its proper course and that the offender should not be spared.”
Senator Abaribe, during the briefing, informed that the Senate was aware and had got the same information that other Nigerians had got about an alleged claim by a member of the Boko Haram sect concerning a member of the Senate and a member of the National Assembly.
“The Senate wishes to state very clearly that it has always been in the forefront of urging the security agencies to do the necessary job to make Nigeria safe for everyone of us.
“And so, the Senate wishes to urge the security agencies to continue their investigation, because they have told us that the investigation is continuing and at the end of their investigation, they should come out with their report and if anyone is indicted, they should go ahead and follow the dictate of the rule of law as enunciated in the constitution,” he said.
According to him, “naturally, the Senate would be sympathetic with its member and it is also worried about such an insinuation but, at the moment, we are very well aware that it is just a mere allegation and the security agencies have said they are investigating the allegation and that he is innocent until proven guilty.”
In another development, following the arrest of Senator Ndume, over the revelation by Knoduga, suspected member of Boko Haram, many citizens of Borno State were shocked that somebody of the like of Ndume would be involved in such an act that left thousands of innocent people dead in recent times.
According to citizens of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, they would never have believed that Senator Ndume would get involved with the sect, adding that since his arrests was not a dream, they believed that it was but a judgment from God.
“Ali Ndume is always in white and seems to be the colour that he always wear to deceive people, now that God has revealed to us the person that he is, we will keep praying that many of our leaders in his world should be exposed, so that the whole world would know them,” a source told the Nigerian Tribune in Maiduguri.
Some of Ndume’s aides, who did not want their names in print, told the Nigerian Tribune that it was hard for them to believe that their boss was arrested in connection with Boko Haram.
According to them, the allegation might be politically motivated, since nobody had told them that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff was also arrested.
“Everybody in Borno knows that ex-Governor Ali Sheriff should have long been arrested, but for the fact that he is an errand boy for former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. The good thing now is that Ndume did not plead, so let us wait to hear what other shock is coming,” they said.
The GRA residence of Senator Ndume, where political thugs and underprivileged were always seen milling around, had since been deserted.
Meanwhile, the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno, on Tuesday, repelled an attack on its convoy of military personnel by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect in Maiduguri.
The field commander of JTF operation, Colonel Victor Ebhaleme, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the suspects had laid ambush for a JTF patrol team at Bulumkutu-Kasuwa area of Maiduguri, but were flushed out by the operatives.
He said the gunmen, who were in a golf car, had laid ambush for the patrol team, but were detected by the security team who engaged them in an exchange of fire.
Ebhaleme said no casualty was recorded during the shoot-out, which forced the suspects to flee, leaving behind their vehicle.
SOURCE: Nigerian Tribune, 23 November 2011. http://tribune.com.ng
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