BY  OUR REPORTERS
MAKURDI — Escapee Boko Haram suspect, Kabiru Umar aka Kabiru Sokoto has been re-arrested by operatives of the State Security Service, SSS and the Military. His real name was given as Kabiru Abubakar Dikko, 28.
Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati told the media  yesterday that members of the nation’s secret police arrested Sokoto in Taraba state, which borders Cameroon, adding that he had no other details about the arrest, and referred further questions to the SSS.

Kabiru’s arrest was effected even as two explosions went off yesterday outside a customs building in Nigeria’s flashpoint city of Maiduguri, the base of Boko Haram Islamic sect blamed for a series of attacks, residents said. Four people, including two soldiers, reportedly died during the incident which caused soldiers to engage the Boko Haram adherents in a shoot out, leading to stampede in Maiduguri.
”I was in a taxi going home when the first bomb exploded… (Within) just two minutes, another one ahead of us went off,” said resident Babagani Ari, whose account was supported by other locals in the city.

Sokoto is suspected to have masterminded the last Christmas day bombing of St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, for which no fewer than 45 worshippers died and 57 wounded. The Boko Haram Islamic sect claimed responsibility for the for blast which left over 45 people dead and about 57 others wounded. Sokoto who was later flown back to Abuja, on an air force aircraft was arrested  at  about 4.30 am yesterday while hiding behind a cloth line in the house of a relative at Mutum-Biu in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State.

He was paraded before journalists in Abuja, yesterday spotting blue jeans and a green puma polo shirt. Kabiru Sokoto’s escape from police custody on January 15, 2012 at Abaji in the Federal Capital Territory was described by security sources as “unusual and suspicious,” prompting President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the former Inspector General of Police, Abubakar Hafiz Ringim and his six deputies as well as the suspension of Commissioner of Police, Zakari Biu, under whose custody Sokoto was before his disappearance. The police later placed a N50 million ransom on Sokoto.

Kabiru Abubakar Dikko, alias Kabiru Sokoto

Biu is still being investigated by the police authorities. Sokoto’s alleged temporal detention in Makurdi prompted a heavy presence of security operatives in and around Makurdi town.
Stern looking police and SSS operatives yesterday barricaded the Police Headquaters roundabout, diverting all vehicular traffic leading to the SSS and Police Headquarters in Makurdi for about six hours.
They blocked of the entrance of the SSS office in Makurdi, apparently to forestall any attack on the office by the sects adherents.

The Police Public Relations Officers, PPRO, Assistant Superintendent, Ejike Alaribe feigned ignorance of the sect member’s presence in the state, saying,”I am not aware of what you are talking about.’’
Earlier, police officers at the police police headquarters in Abuja said the alleged arrest could not be confirmed as at the time of writing this report. Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Yemi Ajayi, specifically said it was a rumour. “It is still a rumour. We are still looking for him. We have not arrested him,” he said.

However, parading Kabiru Sokoto Dikko before newsmen, the SSS Spokesperson, Mrs Marilyn Ogar said that on his escape, ‘’he had taken refuge at Umaisha in Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State before he fled to Taraba State where he was eventually re-arrested.

“Kabiru, 28, was hiding, rattled; behind a clothe rack in the residence of an accomplice when security operatives closed-in on him”, she added. Sokoto was spotting blue jeans and a green puma polo shirt.

Biodata

She said, ‘’Sokoto, born on May 9, 1983 to the family of Umaru Jabbi of Gagi village, Sokoto South Local Government Area of Sokoto State.
Upon the death of his father, he was adopted by his paternal uncle, Abubakar Dikko and renamed after him. He completed his primary education at Model Primary School, Gagi Town in 1996. Although he enrolled for secondary education at the Ahmadu Bello Academy in 1996, he absconded shortly after and re-applied for admission as a fresh JSS 1 student in Sultan Bello Secondary School, Sokoto, from where he eventually graduated in 2003.

In 2005, he gained admission into the College of Nursing and Midwifery, Sokoto. At the school, Kabiru exhibited high level of truancy and extremist tendencies, a situation which accounted for his poor academic performance. In mid-2007, he absconded again from the institution when he out-rightly refused to re-sit some papers he failed in examination.
’’Kabiru was instrumental to the visit of the late national Leader of the Boko Haram sect, Mohammed Yusuf to Gagi village in February, 2009, during which Kabiru was declared leader of the sect in Sokoto State.

His last known address was the Bulletin Quarters, Abaji, FCT. He is fair in complexion and speaks English, Hausa and Arabic languages fluently ’’Security agencies would like to seize this opportunity to re-assure Nigerians of our collective resolve to stamp out terror from our country.  ’’We are poised to bring to an end, the activities of a few unscrupulous elements and to also warn that the long arm of the law will always catch up with those who perpetrate evil . We hereby crave the maximum support and cooperation of all Nigerians as we strive to rid our society of terror. We are not terrorists. We are Nigerians.’’

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar yesterday said that the arrest of Boko Haram kingpin, Kabiru Sokoto Dikko, was a collective effort of all security agencies in the country.
Speaking in an interview in Abuja, Alhaji Abubakar commended Nigerians over their roles, leading to the arrest of Sokoto pointing out that it had justified his call for all Nigerians whether in uniform or not, to see the issue of security as everybody’s business.  While commending security agencies and all those who assisted in effecting  Sokoto’s arrest, Abubakar promised Nigerians that security agencies were now resolved to work as a team to protect the lives and property of the citizens and foreigners resident in the country.
Military Task Force confirm bombs explosions in Maiduguri:

According to agency reports, the spokesman for a special military squad established to crack down on Boko Haram in the area confirmed the two  explosions in Maiduguri.
”We have deployed our field men to the scene of the blast, and I will have to wait for the briefing before I can say anything,” said Hassam Mohammed, spokesman for the Joint Task Force in Maiduguri. The explosions went off near a station where locals board rickshaw taxis, located outside the customs building, witnesses said. ”The first bomb was planted at the foot of the wall of the customs office when commuters were waiting for rickshaws,” said Halilu Adam.
”The second one went off some meters away… The whole area has now been cordoned off by soldiers and it is very difficult to have an idea of casualties.”