[ALLAFRICA] The alleged criminal mastermind of Christmas day kaboom that killed about 44 persons and maimed 75 others at St. Theresa's Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, in 2011, Kabiru Umar, a.k.a Kabiru Sokoto, yesterday, told a Federal High Court in Abuja that though he was a high profile member of the Islamic "Shurah Council" in Nigeria, he never joined the Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
sect.
Sokoto, who testified as his own witness, told the court that though he initially had sympathy for the organization, his elder brother whose name he gave as Suleiman Aliyu Sokoto, persistently warned him not to get himself involved with the sect.
Speaking through an interpreter, he said: "I am a member of the Shurah Council but not under Boko Haram. I did not participate in any bombing."
Asked by the prosecuting council, Mrs Chioma Onuegbu, if it was true that he got his orders from Abu Shekau, Sokoto said: "As we all know, Shekau is a leader of Boko Haram but not the Shurah Council and it is not true that when I beat feet from police custody, I spoke to Shekau on phone."
Asked if he was aware that it was Shekau that gave orders regarding where kabooms should be carried out and that the sect had so many sections, including a wing in charge of armed robbery, the accused replied: "My lord, it can be so, I don't know but so I have been hearing.
"I am not also aware that there is suicide kaboom and bombers section inside Boko Haram. What I know is that any society or group must have sections. The prosecution lied against me when it said I was the leader of the sect in Sokoto State. If the government has such evidence against me, then let it bring it before the court.
"During the time crisis started in Maiduguri in 2009, my elder brother. His name is Suleiman Aliyu Sokoto. He accommodated me for some days, then we held a discussion and he told me to stay away from Boko Haram or anything that will cause trouble for me.