How An Islamic Cleric, Alfa Initiated Me Into Boko Haram Sect – Terrorist Who Killed Over 200 People Confesses

 How An Islamic Cleric, Alfa Initiated Me Into Boko Haram Sect – Terrorist Who Killed Over 200 People Confesses

Umar Abdulmalik, a Boko Haram Commander arrested two weeks ago, has revealed how his gang caused mayhem in different parts of Nigeria, using police and military uniforms. This was even as he disclosed that his first contact with Boko Haram was through an Islamic cleric, fondly called Mallam Mustapha.

He was arrested in Lagos State by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT. Abdulmalik and his gang members were alleged to be responsible for several bombing incidents, bank robberies and killings within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Owo in Ondo State and Lokoja in Kogi State.

In 2014, Abdulmalik led his gang to attack and break into Kotonkarife Prison in Kogi State, where 200 inmates allegedly escaped. The prison break occurred on November 2, and an inmate was shot dead in the attack. Most of the inmates that escaped were those on awaiting trial for robbery.

It was also gathered that among those that escaped, 12 returned to complete their jail term. At least 45 inmates were later recaptured. Back then, many speculated that the prison break was orchestrated by Boko Haram insurgents, who came to free their imprisoned members. Abdulmalik’s confessions have validated that theory.

Indeed, it was during the prison break that security agents shot and injured Abdulmalik in his left eye. Speaking while in the custody of IRT, Abdulmalik said: “Zeeidi brought some guns and suggested we should attack Kotonkarife Prison in Kogi State. We attacked the prison just to free our members. The attack on the prison was successful; we freed a lot of our members. We then went ahead to attack some banks in Okene. We emptied their vaults.”

30-year-old Abdulmalik, 30, from Okene in Kogi State, was alleged to have killed over 200 persons before his arrest. He disclosed that an Islamic cleric, Mustapha, initiated him into Boko Haram. He recalled: “Mustapha came to Okene with his teachings in 2009. He built a mosque and urged residents to shun western education. He said that it was a sin against Allah. He urged us to accept Islamic education, which he said was the only education accepted by Allah. I attended several of Mallam Mustapha’s teachings.

He urged his followers to disregard Nigeria, and waged war against her, as her system of government was not in line with the dictates of Allah. He said that the Nigerian system of government ought to be in an Islamic fashion.”

Abudulmalik disclosed that he joined some of Mustapha’s followers and destroyed their school certificates. He and others then accepted to wage war against Nigeria. The Boko Commander narrated: “I joined one of the Boko Haram cells in Okene headed by Zeeidi. We carried out several bombings within Kaduna and Kano states. We also bombed Abuja.

Zeeidi provided the bombs. My job was to take these bombs to our target locations. After a while, the Department of State Security (DSS) infiltrated our cell. They arrested members of our group. Mustapha was arrested and his mosque demolished. Zeeidi also brought the idea of bank robbery. He said that the robbery was to source money in order to continue with the Jihad.”

Abudulmalik continued: “We moved to Owo and attacked some of the banks there with dynamites. We carted away large sums of money. We used some of the money to buy advance explosives. We also bought materials for producing none-metallic bombs, which could beat metal detectors.

“A lot of our members and Zeeidi were arrested after those bank robberies and attack on the prison. I moved to Abuja with the bombs we produced, where I formed a new cell in 2014. We carried out several bombings, including bombing of Banex Plaza, Yanya and Kueje areas of Abuja. Our gang was smashed and five of our members arrested.

The police recovered our bombs and materials used in bomb making. I escaped and fled to Kano, where I went underground for two years. I later returned to Abuja and formed a new gang. We then went into full robbery operation.”

The police said: “The IRT, led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Mr. Abba Kyari, generated new intelligence, which aided in the arrest of Abdulamilk. Seven policemen and a civilian were attacked and killed in July, 2018, at a police post on the Galadima Roundabout, Abuja. Operatives of IRT launched investigations into these killings. Five months into the investigations, the IRT made a breakthrough. The operatives arrested a member of the gang identified as Lukman Abdulmalik alias Lampard, through a tip-off in Ondo State. He confessed to have taken part in the killing of the seven policemen.

Lampard went on to iden- tify Abdulmalik as the leader of his gang. He said that Abdulmalik instructed them to always kill policemen whenever the opportunity arises and take their rifles.” The police source further said that Lampard took IRT operatives to the gang’s hideout in Abuja, where four gang members were arrested.

The members are; Abubakar Bello Sidi, Yusuf Abdulazeez alias, Fine Boy, Suleiman Zakariya and Haruna Lamid. While the four suspects were arrested, Abdulmalik escaped with bullet wounds. The operatives recovered four AK47 rifles, six magazines, 270 rounds of AK47 ammunition and two Police Walkie- Talkie, which belonged to the deceased policemen, from the suspects. The police further revealed: “Abdulmalik ran to Lagos State with his bullet wounds to the home of his younger sister, who is a nurse. He started receiving treatments.

Unknown to him, IRT operatives in Lagos had got information that he had a sister residing in Lagos. They trailed him to her house and met him sleeping, and arrested him.” Abdulmalik said: “After I formed my new robbery gang, we robbed a woman of N500, 000, which was money she got from a contribution with some women.

One of our gang members, who got information about the money, told me about it. We robbed the woman and took the money. We also robbed a man at Okene check point. “We pretended to be policemen and robbed him of N1.3m. We moved to Abuja, where we started robbing supermarkets, including customers at Shop- rite. We killed a policeman at Shoprite in Suleja and made away with his rifle. We also robbed a shop along Second Gate on the Abuja-Kaduna Road.”