The alleged mastermind of the December 25, 2011 bombing of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger State, Kabiru Sokoto, on Monday denied meeting with members of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North.

Members of the committee, who are working on how to extend amnesty to the Boko Haram sect, reportedly met behind closed doors with Sokoto and other suspected members of the group currently being held in Kuje Prisons, Abuja, on Thursday.

The Minister of Special Duties, and Chairman of the committee, Kabiru Turaki, was said to have led the amnesty panel to the meeting.

However, Sokoto, speaking through one of his lawyers, Mr. Sharif Okoh, has denied meeting the committee.

Okoh spoke to journalists shortly after an Abuja Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Adeniyi Ademola, adjourned hearing in the ongoing trial of Sokoto over a two counts bordering on terrorism.

The lawyer noted that Sokoto was in court all through the day (Thursday, May 9, 2013), when the said meeting took place.

He also pointed out that Sokoto was being held in the custody of the State Security Service, and not in the Kuje Prisons, where the reported meeting with the amnesty committee took place.

Okoh said, “We were here (in court) with our client when the members of the committee told the whole world that they visited Kabiru in Kuje prison.

“We (counsel) have asked him and he has said again and again that no member of that committee or any other committee visited him.

“So that means that these honourable members of the Nigerian society (amnesty committee members) are telling lies about something that they initiated.”

Earlier, during the continued hearing in the trial, the presiding judge, Justice Ademola had wondered how the amnesty committee met Sokoto on Thursday, May 9, 2013, when he was in the court all through the day.

Meanwhile, testifying while under cross-examination by the defence counsel, a masked prosecution witness, identified by the court as Mr. ABC in order to protect his identity, said the December 25, 2011 bombing of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church was not a suicide attack.

The witness, who is a police officer attached to the Inspector General of Police Special Taskforce on Terrorism and Heinous Crimes, which participated in the initial arrest of Sokoto before he escaped from custody only to be re-arrested by officers of the SSS, said the explosives used in the bombing of the church, were placed in a vehicle parked by the church.

Mr. ABC also told the court that Sokoto confessed that he received a share of N500, 000 from a N40m donation given to the Boko Haram sect.

An Algerian group, whose name translated as ‘People from the sunset’ was said to have made the donation.

Another prosecution witness, identified as Mr. XYZ, had earlier told the court that Sokoto confessed that disagreements over the sharing of the cash donation led to the split of the Boko Haram sect.

At the continuation of his cross-examination by the defence counsel on Monday, Mr. ABC also told the court that Sokoto mentioned the names of two Boko Haram members that carried out the St. Theresa’s Catholic Church bombing.

Mr. ABC said the police was currently looking for the two suspects, named as Bashir Mohammed and Muktari Kafanchan.
PUNCH

I am almost tired of Nigeria

Amnesty guys said they met with Kabiru!

Kabiru said he didn't meet with anyone!!!

Who do we believe? ? ?

I think I have to resort to the normal " May God help us" because Nigerian Politics can't be reasoned out.

The plan is to frame non existing meetings and dialogues with ghosts, then come up with a package similar to the one given to Niger Delta Militants for the group that rejected the Amnesty.

The next step is to procure rusted weapons for every Almajiri and force them to declare, renounce and summit those weapons for a monthly pay cheque of N100,000 per month.

Then JAMB and Boko Haram will continue their terror as the only groups to have rejected the Amnesty.

Northern Elders think Nigerians and the President are fools.

A nation under siege! That is what we are right now. And may God deliver us quickly.

Perhaps, half of the fortune of the country is committed to making sure there is no new insurgency in the Niger-Delta, while the North East is now bent on taking the other half!

Who knows what South East or South West will come up with? And something is happening in the Middle Belt (Nassarawa et al) that we are yet to understand!

Anyway, this matter demands thorough check and clarification and if it is true that the committee lied, then the whole exercise has failed ab initio.

You mean this extremist is still alive?
Whatever happened to jungle justice?

What do we stand to gain if he had met the Amnesty Committee members?

Trash.

Ngwakwe: The plan is to frame non existing meetings and dialogues with ghosts, then come up with a package similar to Niger Delta Militants for the group that rejected the amnesty.

The next step is to procure rusted weapons for every Almajiri and force them to declare, renounce and summit those weapons for a monthly pay cheque of N100,000 per month.

Then JAMB and Boko Haram will continue their terror as the only groups to have rejected the Amnesty.

Northern Elders think Nigerians and the President are fools.

u are d real fool to think northern elders are behind boko haram insurgency

Burger01: What do we stand to gain if he had met the Amnesty Committee members?

Trash.

I wonder ooo

Conspiracy goverment.using our head.

To all deceiving us

lies! lies! lies!.thats all we get in this country. btw,why are they offering amnesty to someone who killed hundreds? they should take a leaf from what usa did to osama when tthey finally caught him, they killed him. since they(boko haram)claim that they are not afraid of death,sentence them to death or shoot on sight. keeping them in prison is delaying them from meeting their 70 virgins.

Boring!!!

ALGERIAN GROUP IS SPONSORING TERRORISM IN NIGERIA AND THEIR AMBASSADOR TO NIGERIA HAS NOT BEEN SUMMONED.
WHAT IS GOODLUCK DOING,OR IS ABATI NOT GIVING HIM INFORMATION AGAIN?
IS NIGERIA A DEAD COUNTRY?
HAVE WE BEEN MADE DUMB AND DEAF BY THIS POLITICKING AND GRAND CORRUPTION.
WOE UNTO THESE POLITICIANS WHO ARE HEADING NIGERIA TO DESTRUCTION.
WE NEED TO SUMMON THE ALGERIAN AMBASSADOR IMMEDIATELY.

Is obvious that some northern elites wants to use this so called amnesty to steal and loot our money. I still maintain my stand on no amnesty for terrorist organizations like boko haram. Crush them with our military power that's the only option that is left.

DICKtator: You mean this extremist is still alive?
Whatever happened to jungle justice?

Kabiru Sokoto obviously has nothing incriminating to say about any of the Northern politicians otherwise jungle justice would have been used as it was in the cases of Messrs Mohammed Yusuf and Buji Foi.

Uhmm! Tinkin dialetically, dey met wit Kabiru Sokoto to discuss some issues, aldou dey don't have anything to hide, dey want to keep their work discreet, dey n deir relatives av a life to live, its just sensible to deny meeting him.

black_beau: lies! lies! lies!.thats all we get in this country. btw,why are they offering amnesty to someone who killed hundreds? they should take a leaf from what usa did to osama when tthey finally caught him, they killed him. since they(boko haram)claim that they are not afraid of death,sentence them to death or shoot on sight. keeping them in prison is delaying them from meeting their 70 virgins.

My friend, we would know a lot more than we do now about this BH situation if Mohammed Yusuf and Buji Foi were not extrajudicially executed by the police. I believe that they had inside information that would have taken us to the root cause of all this. Besides, the deadly cycle of reprisal attacks that we are witnessing intensified with the killing of Yusuf. Also, I believe that Yusuf were he still the leader today would have been much less virulent than Shekau.

No wonder that man (what's his name again?) rejected being a member of this amnesty whatever, cos he knows it's a failed committee ab initio...

Everyone can see Ebele's presidency is one BIG JOKE

Why did the minister of special duties LIE at a press conference that his master's commitee met with Kabiru Sokoto who was in fact before a judge on the said day and time
How long will the DSS [a FG parastatal] take to throw the legal kitchen sink at Sokoto
Is the FG really serious in curbing BH and its activities
Is the FG allowing the BH menace fester so as to demonize the North
Why is the FG playing political games with the lives of dead Nigerians? How come they are not diligently pursuing the leads on BH that they already possess

So many questions
Who will answer

Ngwakwe: The plan is to frame non existing meetings and dialogues with ghosts, then come up with a package similar to the one given to Niger Delta Militants for the group that rejected the Amnesty.

The next step is to procure rusted weapons for every Almajiri and force them to declare, renounce and summit those weapons for a monthly pay cheque of N100,000 per month.

Then JAMB and Boko Haram will continue their terror as the only groups to have rejected the Amnesty.

Northern Elders think Nigerians and the President are fools.

I believe you started your comment very well until last paragraph where you had it twisted. In your right frame of mind and when not being sentimental, who do you think should be blamed, northern elders or the president?

gboss4sure: Is obvious that some northern elites wants to use this so called amnesty to steal and loot our money. I still maintain my stand on no amnesty for terrorist organizations like boko haram. Crush them with our military power that's the only option that is left.

Dont you think the military are doing their best by crushing what is Boko and what is not Boko (Baga massacar). But the fact that everybody including mr president, public and the press enjoy calling them faceless group makes the job difficult.

Notorious criminals are given esteemed attention this days(steal a little; you go to cell, steal a lot; you become a king). And why talk of 'Amnesty' instead of declaring 'State of Emergency' in the affected areas? GEJ, Remember 'Ogoni land' scenario:@

Please what is JAMB? Is it Ansaru - Jama'atu Ansarul Muslimina fi Biladis Sudan?
If it is, who named them JAMB?

when the hunter becomes the hunted, what do you expect?

Federick Fasheun once said that the moment a mad man knows he's man, it means healing is already taking place. We all knows our problems which also mean we are close to a potential solution. Nigeria will be good once we are able to wipe out the leaders since the post independent era to present time!!!!! And this can only be achieve by a collective revolution. Arise o'compatriot. lets wage war against these bunch of cabals now!!!!!!!