Soldiers in Aba on Sunday carried out an early morning raid at Aba Central Mosque and the residence of some Muslims in the town and arrested the Chief Imam of the mosque, Idris Bashir; his deputy, Mohammed Hassan; and eleven others over suspicion of stockpiling guns and planning to manufacture bombs.
The Chief Imam informed Premium Times over the telephone that the soldiers came to their area at about 2 a.m., where they arrested four persons at the mosque while he and the others were picked from their houses.
“They took us to the 144 Battalion Barracks at Asa where their commander informed us that we are being suspected of stockpiling guns and manufacturing bombs. However, after sometime, the officer said since nothing was found after their search of our houses, mosque and shops we should be released,” he said.
He also said only eleven of them were released.
“The other two, who are the Director and Principal of New Horizon Academy, are still with the military,” Mr. Bashir said.
He said the soldiers in their raid saw some bottles of chemicals at the science laboratory of the school and accused the school officials of using them to manufacture bombs.
Mr. Bashir said the bottles were used for practical studies for students of the school.
“The bottles were not hidden and were kept aside in the lab because there were only five students offering the subject and three of them are already married and the other two appear to lose interest in the subject, so the bottles are even empty,” he said.
The cleric said he was re-invited by the military for further interrogation at Ngwa High School, on Wednesday.
“They interrogated me and released me just before we broke our fast and told me that they may re-invite me again,” he said.
The Chief Imam said their major concern now was the fate of two of their colleagues who have been moved from Asa, where they were initially kept, to Ohafia.
“Right now we don’t know the state they are in, and these are innocent Nigerians struggling to live in the current prevailing circumstances. My appeal is for the military authorities to, please, carry out all their investigations thoroughly so that innocent persons will not suffer for just being Muslims,” he said.
Soldiers had last month arrested 486 northerners travelling through Abia State to Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Many of them were eventually released after being detained for weeks, while the military said it was still investigating others.
The House of Representatives had on Tuesday rejected a motion that sought to investigate and put a stop to the series of arrests of northerners by soldiers in Abia State.
The motion which came under matter of urgent national importance and sponsored by Aminu Suleiman (APC, Kano) suffered a setback when put to vote for consideration, Daily Trust reported on Wednesday.
The paper said when the deputy speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, who was presiding, put the question to a voice vote, only few voices were heard supporting it.
The mover of the motion, Mr. Suleiman told the paper that he was not happy with the way the motion was killed by his colleagues, saying it was a dangerous precedent they set for Nigeria.
“You cannot use the excuse of the insurgency to place a particular ethnic group, people or region on security spotlight. It is nonsensical and unacceptable,” he said. “This is a process that is capable of setting ethnic group against one another and where this is predominant is in the south-east. That is what I had wanted to read and as you know, the people that travelled a lot in this country are the south-easterners. If some people try to apply reprisal, it will be too bad for the country.”
When contacted, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Olajide Laleye, said he was yet to get the full details of the operation. He said he would provide the details as soon as he got them. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Thanks a lot soldiers. Almost all hausas were supportn bokoharam openly or religiously.U brought it to urslf and u wil always remain suspects frm nw till d end of this world...
ReplyDeleteGood news.....they hv dented themselves and their religion...soldiers more greese t ur elbow..some said bokoh wa formed bc of illitracy n d north,bt d masterminds of nyanya bombing are all graduates.i always remember bomb whenever i jam or see an hausa man on d road....skido...
ReplyDeletemost of u christainz ar just doin tinz in an abduct way,which may lead u 2 fire.d sholdierz has done d wrong tin 4 embarrassin d imam and oderz.i believe d truth shall b reveil 1 day,we shal knw who is behind d boko haram.i won't sin against u people but serve allah.cheat
ReplyDeleteYou can know the truth today if only yu open ur heart to Him. What about Islamic terrorists who are currently killing other Muslims, bombing mosques killing Imams in Iraq, Syria etc?' Must we lose our reasoning becos we want to defend a religion. If there are suspicions should we not investigate them and try to save lives ?
DeleteNonsense, channel that your search and effort to Sambisa forest and bring back our girls. Stop all these suspicious issue on daily basis.
ReplyDeletemay ALLAH protect the muslims in nigeria and world at large.
ReplyDeleteYes..but from whom? From Islamic terrorists who are shouting Allah's name?.
DeleteFrom the enemies of islam(the jews and christians)who exagerates
DeleteU FOOL. CHRIATIANS AND JEWS ARE NOBODY ENEMIES. SO HOW COME WE ONLY HEAR OF ISLAMIC TERRORIST NOT CHRISTIANS OR JEWS TERRORIST. LOOK AROUND THE WHOLE WORLD AND ARAB NATIONS AND TELL ME WHO'S BOMBING AND KILLING THEMSELVES? CHRISTIANS I GUESS? IDIOTS BLOOD SUCKING DEMONS
DeleteSee yeye talk those they arrest has now been revealling the secret if u dont no useless set of people wl bad religion
ReplyDeleteAny action by security agencies aimed at nipping terror attacks at the bud must be supported. Stop all these religious jingoism. Most of you claiming to be this or that are even ignorant of what your so called religions is all about. Most of you commenting based on religion are fanatics and fanatics do not reason properly. shi ke na!
ReplyDeleteI do not like writing comments but I do read what others write. It is so disheartening to know that most of our comments are based on hate. I am a Christian from the South East but feel so bad whenever I see people calling names or criticizing a particular religion. I think we should be speaking against our problems and the people causing us these problems rather than generalising. Those accusing all Nigerian Muslims of supporting BH, do you think all Muslims believe in their course? Please desist from generalising and fight those causing pains. Thank you!
ReplyDeletewe shudnt b tribalistic n religious in our aproach. Let d southernerz stop dis useles aproach n embibe peace. Let us b wise. I am an xtain. If any frakas hapns i wil fight 4 d muslims they av bn humiliatd alot
ReplyDeleteYu are a liar . Simple.
Deletewe d southern ppl r facing no terorism treath. D military shud save us 4rm religious war plz. They shu d go 2 sambisa n leave us alone.let us say bad is bad
ReplyDelete