3 Boko Haram members arrested for duping amnesty panel of N70 million
Three men who took advantage of a call for peace talks to impersonate members of terrorist sect, Boko Haram have been arrested and charged to court in Borno.
Kalama Abba, Babagana Mallam Saje and Abba Sadiq alias Sheik Abbas were arraigned yesterday before a court in Maiduguri, the state capital.
The trio are said to have claimed to be leaders of the sect and on this premise deceived a member of the Presidential Amnesty Panel, Aisha Akil and collected a sum of N70 million from her to facilitate the laying down of arms of their purported followers.
Nigerian Eye reports:
The trio, who were alleged to be members of a ring with other members now at large, were alleged to have defrauded a member of the defunct Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North East, Wakil, after claiming to be leaders of the outlawed terrorist group.
The men, who were later discovered to have no relationship with the sect or being its
leader, were alleged to have swindled Wakil to the tune of N70m in the name of convincing their members to lay down their arms and embrace dialogue.
It was gathered that the accused were sometimes in October, 2012 introduced to Wakil as leaders of the Boko Haram sect and were willing to lay down their arms and embrace dialogue. They were said to have claimed to be leaders of the sect in South and Northern Borno areas.
When the charges were read to the accused persons, they pleaded not guilty to all the four charges.
Presiding judge of the Maiduguri High Court 10, where the case came up, Justice Aisha Ali, adjourned the case to January 28,for further hearing and ordered the accused to be remanded them in custody.
