One of the suspects in the Jaji Military Cantonment bombing, Mohammed Idris, said on Friday that he and a colleague always pretended to hawk yams to spy on their targets.
Idris made this statement when he and another suspect, Ibrahim Mohammed were paraded by the State Security Services (SSS) for their involvement in the bombing of St. Andrews Protestant Military Church located within the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State on November 27, 2012.
A number of other suspects have been arrested in connection with the attacks and are under investigation.
Mohammed, a native of Ilobu, Osun State admitted that his role in the attacks was in procuring fertilizer used in priming one of the cars used in the suicide attacks, a Toyota Matrix. He then accompanied the suicide bombers, one Tasiu and Mallam Lawal to the gates of the AFSCS, where he bade them farewell.
He made all these confessions when he was paraded alongside Idris by the SSS in Abuja.
Deputy Director, Public Relations and Media of the SSS, Marilyn Ogar, said in the news briefing that Mohammed was indoctrinated into Boko Haram by one Bashir Madalla, now late, who trained him in the use of firearms and priming of Improvised Explosive Devices.
She also said that the 18-year old Mohammed had been involved in several attacks in Kaduna, including the one on St. Rita’s Catholic Church, Badarawa, Kaduna.
The suspect stated that Madalla sent Lawal, one of the suicide bombers, to Damaturu, Yobe State to retrieve military uniforms and weapons from the Boko Haram cell and that Lawal wore the military uniform with the rank of a captain, which afforded him free access into the military formation in Jaji,” Ogar stated.
Idris, 50, stated that he was inducted into the Boko Haram ideology by one Lawal, a fellow yam hawker in Jalingo in August 2012. He then relocated to Kaduna and was given a two-bedroom flat at Rafin Guza area which also functioned as the sect’s operational base.
He confessed to investigators that the Toyota Matrix used in the Jaji attacks was primed by Mohammed and Lawal at his residence and he served as a motivational preacher and father figure to the sect.
Idris was, however, not forthcoming when questioned by newsmen.
But Mohammed stated in Yoruba that he was living with his uncle in Kaduna and was about being put under apprenticeship as a motor mechanic when he was returned to his parents in his home town.