The State Security Service on
Wednesday in Abuja paraded an
assistant lecturer in Arabic and
Islamic studies at the Kogi State
University, Ayingba, Muhammad
Yunus, for recruiting and coordinating
a Boko Haram terror cell in Kogi State.

The service said Yunus, who is the
spiritual leader, runs a terror group
which comprised Umar Musa, head of
operations/ instructor; Mustapha Yusuf
(aka Habib); armourer/chief courier,
Ismaila Abdulazeez, a foot soldier; and
Ibrahim Isah (a.k.a one in town), who is
also a foot soldier.

SSS Deputy Director, Media and Public
Relations, Marilyn Ogar, while briefing
newsmen, explained that the terror cell
planned to launch attacks in Kogi State
before they were apprehended.

She explained that until his arrest,
Yunus had held several preaching
sessions every last Saturday and
Sunday of the month at Ethnosho
Secondary School, Ojiolo, Dekina Local
Government Area of Kogi State where
he had about 80 adherents.

Similarly, the suspect held another
session every Friday at the Kogi State
University mosque, Ayingba, where he
had about 120 followers, whom he
taught the virtues of Jihad and the
sanctity of the Sharia law as an
alternative form of governance and its
entrenchment in the state and beyond.

Ogar said the lecturer, said to be a very
active member of the Academic Staff
Union of Universities in KSU, maintained
extensive links with Boko Haram cells in
Borno State where he referred some of
his followers to terrorist training.

“In March 2013, he facilitated the trip of
two of his adherents to Boko Haram’s
Sambisa Camp in Maiduguri, Bornu
State where they received training in
weapon handling. They are Mustapha
Yusuf and Ismaila Abdulazeez who are
now under arrest. They were able to
escape and returned back to him in
August 2013, following the military
invasion of the camp,” she said.

The SSS spokesperson said Yunus
holds a Masters degree from the
University of Jos and a Ph.D in Arabic
and Islamic Studies from KSU, in 2012.

Yunus denied being a Boko Haram
member when questioned by journalists,
but his claim was punctured by Yusuf,
Abdulazeez and Isah who insisted that
he had been teaching them about Jihad
and how to exploit it to instal Sharia in
Kogi State.

Yunus, who admitted knowing his
accomplices, alleged that he was set up,
adding that Islam which he preached,
did not endorse blood-shedding.

“I don’t have any link with Boko Haram,
in fact I preached against them, that is
why they have set me up. You can go to
Jos and ask for my tapes, I preached
against them. Islam doesn’t support
blood-shedding and I don’t support it
too,” he said.

One of the suspects, Isah said he was
in company with Umar and Abdulazeez
on their way to Maiduguri, Bornu State
for training when they were arrested at a
mosque in Zuba, near Abuja.

Abdulazeez said he was indoctrinated by
Yusuf in Nyanya, Abuja and he
subsequently travelled to Ayingba to see
Yunus who directed him to go with Isah
to Maiduguri, but their trip was aborted
by their arrest.

Meanwhile, arraignment of a suspected
Boko Haram member, Abdulmanam
Abidiki, could not hold on Wednesday
due to the absence of his defence
lawyer.

Source - myschool.com.ng/school/news/23499/sss-parades-varsity-lecturer-four-others-for-terrorism.html