The Department of State Security Service, SSS, on Wednesday paraded a lecturer of the Kogi State University, Ayingba, Muhammad Nazeef, for allegedly being a member of a Boko Haram group.

Mr. Nazeef, said to be a lecturer in the Department for Islamic Studies, was paraded alongside four others, at the SSS headquarters in Abuja.

The lecturer was also alleged to be the spiritual leader of the cell.

The SSS spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar, who briefed journalists at the commission’s headquarters, said the cell that were uncovered in Igala land of Kogi State, were arrested at a mosque in Zuba, Abuja.

According to the SSS, Mr. Nazeef, 44, who hails from Idah, Kogi State, completed his secondary education at El-Kanemi College, Maiduguri before he graduated from the Islamic University of Medina, Saudi Arabia.

The other four arrested were Umar Musa, 37 (head of operations/instructor); Mustapha Yusuf, 21 (aka Habib; armourer/chief courier); Ismaila Abdulazez, 19 (foot soldier); and Ibrahim Isah, 22 (aka One in town also foot soldier), the security service stated.

Ms. Ogar disclosed that the group was plotting to launch violent attacks in Igala land, Kogi state and that Mr. Nazeef confessed to holding several preaching sessions every last Saturday and Sunday of the month at Ethosho secondary school Ojiolo, Dekina, Kogi, where he has about 80 adherents.  

He also reportedly confessed to teaching his adherents the virtues of Jihad and the sanctity of the Sharia system as an alternative form of governance.

Mr. Nazeef was accused of maintaining extensive link with Boko Haram cells in Maiduguri as well as facilitating the trip of two of his adherents to Boko Haram’s Sambisa camp in Maiduguri for training in weapon handling.

Speaking to journalists, Mr. Nazeef amidst tears denied having any connection to Boko Haram. He said he believed he was being set up by the sect for preaching against shedding of blood, whether humans or even animals.

Mr. Musa, an indigene of Ankpa, Kogi, who completed his NYSC in 2004 after graduating with a degree in Islamic studies from Bayero University, agreed that he had no links to the dreaded sect but was lured into their activities as a result of unemployment.

He worked with Kogi State teaching commission until 2009 when he lost his job. He established his own private school which he abandoned for a N50, 000 monthly salary with the sect’s education unit as a Munzir (instructor).

Mr. Musa insisted that Mr. Nazeef, who they referred to as a spiritual leader, appointed him head of operations and munzir of the group.

He also said that he returned from Sambisa, Maiduguri, with Mr. Yusuf, who just passed his Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination but could not pass his post JAMB exams, to reunite with Mr. Nazeef in Kogi where they plotted to carry out violent attacks in Igala land.

Also speaking, Mr. Yusuf from Ayingba in Kogi State said he came in contact with Mr. Nazeef in 2013 while seeking admission into Kogi State University.

He said Mr. Nazeef discouraged him from having a Western education and persuaded him to join the Boko Haram sect, noting that Mr. Nazeef only camouflaged as a lecturer in the university.

He said it was Mr. Nazeef who directed Mr. Musa to take him and Mr. Abdulazez to Sambisa camp; and that upon their return, they held several strategic meetings in ASTA petrol station where he was appointed armourer by Mr. Nazeef.

Mr. Yusuf also confessed to being in possession of two AK 47 rifles and 30 rounds of live ammunition before his arrest.

Mr. Abdulazeez, from Ogugu also in Kogi, working as a mobile tailor in Nyanya, Abuja, said he was indoctrinated into the group by Mr. Yusuf in Nyanya, Abuja but subsequently visited Mr. Nazeef in Ayingba and then further took a trip to Maiduguri with others on Mr. Nazeef’s directives.

Mr. Isah, in his account, said Mr. Yusuf invited him to one of Mr. Nazeef’s preaching sessions at Eshosho School where he taught them workings of the sharia system and its superiority to secular governance.

Ms. Ogar noted that investigation was still ongoing, advising parents sending their wards to teachers to be careful about the kind of teachers their children are sent to.