Suspected mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, Kabiru Umar (better known as Kabiru Sokoto) has denied ever holding a meeting with members of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, against an earlier claim by Committee Chairman and Minister for Special Duties, Mr. Kabiru Tanimu Turaki.
Turaki had said last week that his committee met Sokoto and other key figures of the Boko Haram Islamist sect at the Kuje Minimum Security Prison, Abuja.
But at his resumed trial on Monday, the suspected terrorist denied the meeting, saying he could have met the Amnesty Committee at a time he was undergoing trials before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.
According to his lawyer, Mr. Sherrif Okoh, Kabiru Sokoto was before Justice Ademola Adeniyi on the supposed meeting day, and he was as well in the custody of the State Security Service (SSS) rather than Kuje Prison.
“These members of the amnesty committee have been brandishing lies, it is very wrong of them to come and say they held a meeting with Kabiru Sokoto,” Okoh said.
“In fact, Kabiru has been in the SSS custody, he was not in Kuje Prison; so it was a pure lie for a committee of respected, eminent and dignified persons to say they held a meeting with our client.”
Trial judge, Justice Ademola Adeniyi corroborated the claim, saying the accused was in court on the da, from morning to evening.
When the trial proper kicked off, a masked prosecuting witness claimed that the suspect had earlier owned up to having knowledge of the attack and identified Bashir Mohammed and Mukhtari Kafanchan as perpetrators of the dastardly blast.
The prosecuting witness refuted media reports that the blast was a suicide attack. He said a car parked at the passage way of the church was employed for the detonation and no one was inside when the bomb went off. He added that although Sokoto did not admit to parking the car, he was sure that Sokoto had knowledge of it.
The anonymous witness further stunned the court by claiming that leaders of the sect split over the sharing of N40m, out of which Sokoto received N500,000.00.
However, Sokoto’s lawyer denied the claims, saying the witness had come to the court to tell lies. The trial was adjourned to 16th and 17th for the hearing of more prosecution testifiers.
