KOGI LECTURER ARRESTED FOR RECRUITING FOR BOKO HARAM

The Department of State Services, DSS, yesterday, announced the arrest of a university lecturer, Dr. Muhammad Nazeef Yunus, who allegedly acts as Recruitment Co-ordinator of the Boko Haram sect and four other members as they were plotting to launch violent attacks in Igalaland, Kogi State.The DSS which paraded the five suspected members of the terror group in Abuja, said the Spiritual Leader and Recruitment Coordinator of the sect, Dr Muhammad Nazeef Yunus, was until his arrest, an assistant lecturer in the Department of Islamic Studies, Kogi State University, Ayingba in Kogi State. He was also said to be a key member of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU currently in a face-off with the Federal Government.The DSS said the don taught Arabic and Islamic Studies at the university.Other alleged members of the sect paraded were Umar Musa, Head of Operations/Instructor; Munzir Mustapha Yusuf, a.k.a Habib, Armourer/Chief courier; Ismail Abdulazeez, foot soldier and Ibrahim Isa, a.k.a ‘One in town’ another foot soldier.The Deputy Director, Public Relations, Department of State Service, Marilyn Ogar, who paraded the suspected Boko Haram members said their plot was botched when two members of the sect who were on their way to Borno State for training in weapons handling were arrested at Zuba, on the outskirts of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.According to Ogar, “the determination of security forces to rid Nigeria of all acts of terror has continued to yield favourable results as this Service uncovered a Boko Haram cell in KogiState.All the paraded suspects, apart from the varsity lecturer, took time to explain to the media the level of their involvement in the Boko Haram insurgency and the plan to attack Igala.Dr. Yunus feigned ignorance of the planned attacks. One of the suspects said he joined the group in May and was employed by the sect on a salary of N50,000 per month.The lecturer insisted that his involvement was a frame-up. He said: “My Islamic preaching had always been against the activities of the Boko Haram sects, but I was shocked when the other suspects insisted that I was a member and the one that recruited them into the sect. I have never been a member of Boko Haram for one minute in my life, I even preach against them,” he said.