THE Department of State Service has
arrested five persons in connection with the April 14, 2014 bomb blast
at the El-Rufai Motor Park, Nyanya in Abuja.
The suspects are Ahmad Abubakar
(aka Abu Ibrahim/Maiturare), Mohammed Ishaq, Yau Saidu (aka Kotar
Rama), Anas Isah and Adamu Yusuf.
The DSS Deputy Director, Public
Relations, Marilyn Ogar, who paraded the suspects in Abuja on Monday,
said the masterminds of the blast, Rufai Tsiga (aka Dr. Tsiga), and a
military deserter, Aminu Ogwuche, had been declared wanted.
Ogar announced a cash reward of N25m for information that could lead to their arrest.
She also explained that Ogwuche with
service number SVC 95/104 served in the intelligence unit of the Nigeria
Army at Child Avenue, Arakan Barracks, Lagos between 2001 and 2006 and
was posted to the Nigerian Defence Academy in 2006.
According to her, Ogwuche was once
arrested on November 12, 2011 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International
Airport, Abuja, on his arrival from the United Kingdom, for suspected
involvement in terrorism-related activities.
She added that he was released on
bail on October 15, 2012 to his father, Col. Agene Ogwuche (retd.),
following intense pressure from human rights activists who alleged human
rights violation.
The DSS spokesperson further explained
that investigation indicated that Tsiga and Ishaq moved a vehicle laden
with explosives to the El-Rufai Motor Park on April 13,2014 night.
“In the morning of April 14, Tsiga moved the explosives-laden vehicles to the position from where he detonated them,” she added.
Ogar stated that Abubakar, who was
arrested on April 22, 2014 at Gwantu, Sanga Local Government Area of
Kaduna State, told interrogators that Tsiga confirmed to him that he
(Tsiga) and other members of the Boko Haram carried out the attack on
the motor park.
She said, “According to Abubakar, Tsiga
also told him that the Boko Haram leader had directed that all members
of the sect should relocate with their families to “Gaaba” (Boko Haram
forest camp) in preparation for mass attacks against the Nigerian
state.”
Ishaq, who was arrested at Utako behind
Julius Berger Yard in Abuja following Abubakar’s confession, served as a
sales boy in Tsiga’s patent medicine store called Kishi Clinic.
The clinic served as a base for Boko Haram’s covert activities in the FCT.
Ogar said,”Ishaq revealed that two days
before the Nyanya blast, Tsiga informed him around 4pm after prayers
that there was a plan to bomb a facility in Abuja, but stated that he
was never informed of the exact location.
“He further revealed that Tsiga later
informed him that the bombs to be used for the blast were being coupled
at the residence of one Adamu Yusuf and a day before the blast, he and
Tsiga drove the car laden with explosives and parked it behind four
buses inside the motor park in Nyanya overnight, after which they left
the area.”
Yusuf, who denied involvement in the blast, admitted to journalists that he was a former member of the sect.
Yusuf, also a former cleric at the
Finance Quarters Mosque, Wuse in Abuja, identified other terror
suspects as members of Boko Haram.
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