SSS hands over Kabiru Sokoto, accomplices, to military

The alleged mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing, Kabiru Abubakar Dikko (a.k.a Kabiru Sokoto), who was rearrested by a combined team of the State Security Service and the military on Friday, was moved out of the headquarters of the SSS on Friday night, and taken to an unknown location, a top level security official has disclosed to Premium Times.

The source said after Mr. Sokoto was paraded before journalists Friday afternoon, he was kept in one of the detention cells at the SSS headquarters. As dusk came however, he was pushed into an unmarked security van and driven to an unknown destination under the cover of darkness.

Those arrested with him, our source said, were also taken away in similar fashion.

Our source said the Boko Haram kingpin is being detained in one of the numerous military barracks in Abuja where interrogators will grill him for days to come.

Each of Mr. Sokoto’s accomplices were also taken to different locations. 

Our source said security had been heightened around locations in the capital and elsewhere where Boko Haram suspects are kept. 

Investigators are trying to get as much information as possible from Mr. Sokoto that would help in tracing down the leader and other kingpins of the sect.

Another source in the police also told Premium Times Saturday night that all Boko Haram suspects with the force had been handed over to the military for safekeeping.

Mr. Sokoto, alongside some accomplices, was arrested in Muntum Biu village in Taraba State on Friday. He was thereafter paraded before journalists at the SSS headquarters in Abuja.

Mr. Sokoto is considered a key official of the Boko Haram sect, founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002. The organisation claims it abhors western education.

The government claims he was the mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing in Madalla, Niger State. But police investigation has so far failed to link him convincingly to the crime.

Since July 2009, when Boko Haram launched its violent attacks, it has claimed responsibility for bombing police stations, military facilities, banks, and beer parlours, in northern Nigeria, as well as the United Nations building and police headquarters in Abuja.