AUTHORITIES of the State Security Service (SSS) yesterday paraded two suspects, who allegedly carried out the last November 27 twin bomb attacks on St. Andrews Protestant Military Church within the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC) Jaji, Kaduna State.
The SSS said thorough investigation by its operatives, in collaboration with the military, led to the arrest of Ibrahim Mohammed, also known as "Alilullah", and Mohammed Ibrahim Idris, the masterminds of the suicide attacks. The bombers had detonated two Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIEDs) inside the military cantonment.
The SSS Public Relations Officer, Marilyn Ogar, told journalists that the suspects had made confessions and would immediately be handed over to military authorities to continue with their own investigations, as "their level of involvement has been ascertained."
Ogar, a Deputy Director, disclosed that other suspects apprehended in connection with the attacks, were still being investigated, just as she gave assurance that the Service and other security agencies had resolved to bring an end to the activities of unpatriotic elements and restore peace, security and harmony in the country.
Fielding questions from reporters, Mohammed, 18, from Ilobu in Ilobu Council of Osun State, who spoke through an interpreter, confessed to having dropped out of school before he was recruited and indoctrinated into the Boko Haram sect in Kaduna.
According to him, he was indoctrinated by the late Bashir Madalla, who also trained him in the use of firearms and production/priming of IEDs.
The suspect added that he had participated actively in several other attacks in Kaduna, including those on St. Rita's Catholic Church, Badarawa and St. Andrews Church in Jaji.
In his confessions to the SSS authorities earlier, Mohammed disclosed that it was the the Madalla who sent one Mallam Lawal (also late), one of the suicide bombers, to Damaturu, Yobe State to retrieve some military uniforms and weapons from the sect's cell there.
According to him, Lawal personally wore the uniform with the rank of a Captain, which afforded him free access into the military formation in Jaji, adding that the attack was carried out by one Tasiu (now late) and Lawal, who assumed leadership of the sect in Kaduna, following the death of Madalla.
Mohammed, who earlier told the SSS that he accompanied the two suicide bombers up to the gate, where he bade them farewell, also disclosed that Lawal volunteered to carry out the Jaji suicide attack personally, since no suitable person could be sourced for the assignment due to time constraint.
He said he procured the fertilizer used in priming the Toyota Matrix, one of the cars used for the Jaji attack, and that the vehicle was parked at the residence of Idris, which served as the sect's Safe House.
The SSS spokesperson had earlier told journalists that Idris, 50, a yam hawker from Jalingo in Taraba State, had confessed to having been initiated into the sect's ideology by one Mallam Lawal, a fellow yam seller in Jalingo, around August last year, after which he was relocated to Kaduna by Lawal and given a two-bedroom flat in Rafin Guza area, which served as the sect's operational base.
He was said to have also confessed to serving as a motivational preacher and father figure to members of the sect, as well as being responsible for the conduct of surveillance on selected targets, using the cover of a yam hawker.
