TWO Senators and a former governor are currently under
surveillance with a view to determining their alleged involvement in the
activities of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, Inspector-General of Police,
Mohammed Abubakar, said on Wednesday.
The three, according to Abubakar, are Senators Ahmed Zanna and
Ali Ndume, and a former Governor of Borno State, Modu Sheriff.
The IG added that investigators were collating evidence on their
alleged sponsorship of Boko Haram with a view to prosecuting them.
He said, “We are working to end terrorism in the country but we
need support from the public; some of the senators are under watch, but we need
evidences to build a strong case against them.
“We cannot take anybody to court without ample evidence.
Investigators need evidence to pursue their cases.”
The IG fielded questions from journalists in Abuja shortly after
declaring open a conference of sectional heads, zonal and state Criminal
Investigation Departments.
Operatives of the Joint Military Task Force had recently
arrested a suspected kinpin of the violent sect, Mohammed Bama, in a house in
Maiduguri, believed to belong to Zanna, a senator representing Borno Central
Senatorial District.
But while the senator admitted that Bama is his nephew , he
claimed that the building where Bama was arrested belonged to Sheriff.
Sheriff, under whose watch as governor of Borno State the sect
was allegedly founded, however, said Zanna should be thoroughly investigated.
A self-confessed former spokesman for Boko Haram, Ali Konduga,
had named Ndume as a financier of the sect. Ndume, a senator representing Borno
South District, is currently facing trial prosecution at a Federal High Court
in Abuja. He was arrested November 21, 2011. Curiously, he was at the time a
member of a Presidential committee on how to curb the activities of Boko Haram.
Meanwhile, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister
of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, has urged the National Assembly to speed up the amendment
of the Anti-Terrorism Law pending before it.