TERRORISM: IG PUTS TWO SENATORS, EX-GOV UNDER WATCH

TWO Senators and a former governor are currently under surveillance with a view to determining their alleged involvement in the activities of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, said on Wednesday.

The three, according to Abubakar, are Senators Ahmed Zanna and Ali Ndume, and a former Governor of Borno State, Modu Sheriff.

The IG added that investigators were collating evidence on their alleged sponsorship of Boko Haram with a view to prosecuting them.

He said, 'We are working to end terrorism in the country but we need support from the public; some of the senators are under watch, but we need evidences to build a strong case against them.

'We cannot take anybody to court without ample evidence. Investigators need evidence to pursue their cases.'

The IG fielded questions from journalists in Abuja shortly after declaring open a conference of sectional heads, zonal and state Criminal Investigation Departments.

Operatives of the Joint Military Task Force had recently arrested a suspected kinpin of the violent sect, Mohammed Bama, in a house in Maiduguri, believed to belong to Zanna, a senator representing Borno Central Senatorial District.

But while the senator admitted that Bama is his nephew , he claimed that the building where Bama was arrested belonged to Sheriff.

Sheriff, under whose watch as governor of Borno State the sect was allegedly founded, however, said Zanna should be thoroughly investigated.

A self-confessed former spokesman for Boko Haram, Ali Konduga, had named Ndume as a financier of the sect. Ndume, a senator representing Borno South District, is currently facing trial prosecution at a Federal High Court in Abuja. He was arrested November 21, 2011. Curiously, he was at the time a member of a Presidential committee on how to curb the activities of Boko Haram.

Meanwhile, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, has urged the National Assembly to speed up the amendment of the Anti-Terrorism Law pending before it.

Adoke, in an address he delivered at the valedictory court session held in honour of retired Supreme Court Justice, Olufunlola Adekeye, in Abuja on Wednesday, said speedy conclusion of work on the law would reposition the judiciary in the fight against terrorism.

Explaining that the weakness of the former law necessitated the ongoing amendment, he said, 'justice can only be done to terrorists and their financiers if penalties commensurate with their offences are put in place .'