A pastor and the presidential aide on New Media, Reno Omokri, has named Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as a potential sponsor of Boko Haram. He made the accusation in a press release sent to media houses under an alias Wendell Simlin.
Omokri was caught in the act by a technology guru and activist who tweets from the handle @doubleeph.
In the statement, Omokri amongst other accusations, said that Sanusi may have been acquaintances with Osama bin Laden and was involved in the beheading of a man in Kaduna.
The goal of the move made by the Presidential media team, analysts have speculated would have been to discredit Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and draw away the public support the embattled former CBN governor had been enjoying.
Omokri, did not count on his carefully packaged misinformation press release being dismantled as quickly as the hawks on Twitter were able to.
He was found out as Microsoft Word enables readers to see the author of whatever document they are reading.
The statement Omokri released is copied below:
Increased Tempo of Boko Haram/Terrorist Activity in the Wake of the Sanusi Saga
In the wake of the saga involving the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, there has been an increase in the tempo of terrorist activities carried out by the Islamic Terrorist sect, Boko Haram.
Taken together with some historical facts, there is a strong case that this increase in tempo and other activities are not
coincidental.
The following Timelines may throw some light on the likely linkages;
February 20th 2014: President Goodluck Jonathan suspends Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Governor of the Central Bank
of Nigeria.
February 20th 2014: Boko Haram attacks Bama town killing at least 47, wounding many and destroying houses.
February 23rd 2014: Boko Haram attacks Konduga Local Government, destroying houses, and allegedly killing scores of
rural dwellers.
February 24th 2014: Borno State Governor’s convoy allegedly attacked by gunmen.
February 25th 2014: Boko Haram attacks Federal Government College, Buni Yada, in Yobe State, killing at least 29 students as
they slept.
History
It is a historical fact that Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was implicated in the Gideon Akaluka beheading affair of 1995 and was subsequently arrested in Kano and detained by the Abacha administration in Sokoto, Sokoto State.
Sanusi was released after the intervention of (amongst others) Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab.
Alhaji Mutallab used his influence to place Sanusi comfortably in the banking sector beginning with the United Bank for Africa
from where he moved to First Bank where he (Mutallab) was chairman.
Malam Sanusi rose within the ranks, aided by his relationship with Mutallab, until he was nominated by President Yar’adua
and confirmed by the senate as the Governor of the CBN in 2009.
It is pertinent to note two incidences that cannot be coincidences. The son of Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab (Farouk
Abdul Mutallab) eventually entered into infamy when he was arrested and tried for attempting to detonate an under wear
bomb on a Northwest Airlines flight into America. Farouk Abdul Mutallab became radicalized after he had gone to study Sharia
and Islamic studies in Yemen in 2009.
This was exactly the same trajectory earlier taken by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who schooled at the International University of
Africa in Khartoum, Sudan in the mid 1990s while Osama Bin Laden was also a resident of the city.