SSS Parades Seven Suspects Over Sheikh Albani's Killing

SAN FRANCISCO, March 03, (THEWILL) - Seven suspects were paraded Monday in Abuja by the State Security Service (SSS) over the killing of an Islamic cleric Sheikh Auwal Adam Albani on February 1, 2014, in Zaria, Kaduna State.

The popular cleric was shot dead by gunmen along with his wife and son at the Gwagwaja area of Zaria after a preaching session at Markaz Salafiyya Centre in the Tudun Wada area of Zaria.

Parading the seven suspects, namely Yakub Abdullahi, 42; Ibrahim Shuaibu, 22; Bilyaminu Usman, 22; Yasir Ibrahim Salihu, 35; Sahabi Ismail, 27; Umar Farouk Ismail, 35; and Musa Abubakar, 54, SSS spokesperson Marilyn Ogar said the suspects confessed to being Boko Haram members having joined the outlawed sect between 2009 and 2012.

The SSS said nother suspect, Kabiru, was killed while attempting to snatch a weapon from one of the security operatives that who arrested him.

Ogar said the seven Boko Haram suspects were among the insurgents operating in the Kaduna-Niger axis and were accused of killing Sheikh Albani for what the leadership of the Boko Haram sect described as his pro western posture in the propagation of Islam.

Flaunting an intimidating resume, One of the suspects, Yasir Ibrahim Salihu is a graduate of English Literature from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and works as Head of Records and Billing Department at Horizon Medical Centre, located in Wuse 2, Abuja at the time of his arrest.

A cache of arms number of weapons, including AK 47 rifles, we're recovered from the suspects as the SSS disclosed that investigation into the activities of the suspects was still ongoing.

Ogar said the suspects would soon be charged to court.