KABIRU SOKOTO: I’M READY TO NAME B/HARAM SPONSORS

There are indications that convicted Boko Haram sect member, Kabiru Umar (aka Kabiru Sokoto) is ready to name organisations and individuals he claims to be sponsors of the terrorist group.
Top security officers at Kuje Prisons, Abuja, where he is serving a life sentence, told Nigerian Pilot that Kabiru Sokoto has

indicated his willingness to name the sponsors of Boko Hara.
Nigerian Pilot had on Thursday last week exclusively reported that the convict wrote a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, where he pledged to assist the Federal Government end the activities of Boko Haram.
In the letter written by his lawyer, Sheriff Okoh, Kabiru Sokoto, appealed to President Jonathan to grant him pardon, claiming that he was innocent of the offences for which he was convicted.
One of the security sources said that Kabiru Sokoto had restated his commitment to work with the government to end Boko Haram insurgency by naming the alleged financiers of the sect.
The official said: “Kabiru Sokoto has been saying aloud and telling anyone who cares to listen in prison that he is ready to name the sponsors of Boko Haram. He also wants the government to consider his plea for pardon.
According to the source, with the latest development, it will be a major breakthrough in the fight against the terrorist group.
He said that as soon as the President considers Kabiru Sokoto’s request, those behind the sect will be exposed.
Umar was convicted on a two-count terrorism charge by a Federal High Court in Abuja on December 20, 2013 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The court found him guilty of facilitating the commission of terrorism acts and concealing information from security agencies on the December 25, 2011 and bombing of St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Mandala, Niger State.
In his letter to President Jonathan, the convict faulted the process leading to his sentencing and had appealed the High Court judgment before the Court of Appeal, Abuja.
The letter to the President read in part: Your Excellency Sir, an innocent man was convicted by the court on the date aforementioned. It is for this singular reason that we are applying to you for Presidential pardon in the circumstance pursuant to your exclusive legitimate constitutional powers as enshrined in your golden conscience and under Section 175(a) and (b) of the Constitution.
Your Excellency sir, we are applying for respite and pardon for the convicted felon Kabiru Umar (alias Kabiru Sokoto) because we have absolute faith in your compassion and highest sense of fairness, equity and justice first as a God-fearing man and next, as the leader of the most compassionate nation on earth.
Your Excellency, we vow to reach out beyond the imagination and work with you in resolving the Boko Haram imbroglio, with the firm belief that no quarrel of brotherhood is eternal. We shall undertake this national task for the pleasure of God Almighty, believing in His divine will for our peaceful, united, symbiotic and mutual coexistence as brothers and sisters under a fair and just leader, he said.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has declared the Boko Haram sect as the worst enemy of Nigeria. Whilst condemning the murder of the Emir of Gwoza, Alhaji Idrissa Timta, by the insurgents, it called for a national security conference, instead of all political parties, to help forge a common front against Boko Haram.
In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday, its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that the killing confirmed the sect as enemy to the whole of Nigeria, rather than a group setup by some imaginary opposition political party or elite to bring down Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
The party stated that the killing of the Emir was an indication yet that the Federal Government had misdiagnosed the Boko Haram menace from the onset.
According to Mohammed, Boko Haram is not a northern response to a southern presidency, as some would have us believe. Boko Haram is an enemy of Nigeria; whether Christians or Muslims, southerners or northerners, the lowly or the elite, the young or the old, the poor and the rich. They must be seen for what they are: fringe elements, which happen to have linked up with other terror groups around the world to acquire training and weapons which they are now using to terrorise a whole nation.
Cameroun kills 40 Boko Haram terrorists
Also yesterday, Cameroun’s military claimed it has killed 40 Boko Haram members in the North-West part of the country at the weekend.
The announcement was made by Camerounian government radio, yesterday. Agency report said the insurgents were killed in clashes in Kouserri town, which shares borders with Nigeria and Chad.
The Federal Government had at the weekend accused Cameroun of indifference to the war against Boko Haram. Reuters news agency had on Saturday quoted the Coordinator-General of Nigeria’s Counter Terrorism Centre, Sarkin-Yaki Bello, as accusing Cameroun of not demonstrating enough commitment to rooting out Boko Haram from the region.