Details Of How One Of The Most Wanted Boko Haram Kingpin Was Arrested In Ondo State Before He Struck

Suspect

A 20-year-old suspected member of the terror group, Boko Haram, Mohammed Bashir, said yesterday that some members of the dreaded group were in different parts of Ondo State in order to attack people and facilities.

Bashir, who was arrested on Sunday, during Nigeria’s 57 Independence Anniversary, at Isua-Akoko in Akoko South-East Local Government Area of Ondo State by the police, said they were planning to strike when he was arrested by the law enforcement agents.

A security source said that Bashir was praying along the road when members of the public alerted the police. He said the Anti-Crime patrol team met him on the Isua-Akoko-Abuja Road and took him to the police station.

The security source said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) asked Bashir why he was praying on the road, he said he did not know any mosque hence his decision to pray on the road. He said the DPO later directed him to the nearby mosque.

However, he said it was shortly after his departure that the DPO checked the list of wanted Boko Haram members and discovered that the face he saw matched that of the 165th person on the wanted list.

The patrol team pursued Bashir and arrested him at the point he was earlier apprehended, pretending to be praying on the same point.

Bashir was arrested at the same place where Idris Babawo aka Dikko was arrested a few days earlier. Babawo was 156 on the wanted list of the military.

Parading the Boko Haram suspect among others suspected criminals, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olugbenga Adeyanju, said Bashir was arrested by a special Anti-Crime Patrol Squad on Ifira Road at Isua.

Adeyanju said that during interrogation, Bashir confessed to be a member of Boko Haram.

The commissioner added that Bashir hailed from Niger Republic while his mother hailed from Maiduguri in Borno State.

He said Bashir fled Maiduguri for Nasarawa State and finally landed in the state.bAdeyanju said Bashir claimed to be a follower of one Daffo, a loyalist of Abubakar Shekau, the Boko Haram leader.

Corroborating the commissioner’s statement, Bashir said he was a herdsman before he was recruited into the Boko Haram group. Bashir said killing people was normal as he had killed two people in recent times. Adeyanju said suspect would soon be arraigned.