How we did it, Kabiru Sokoto (Boko Haram leader) tells court

Kabiru Sokoto, who is
standing trial for the 2011
Christmas Day bombing of St.
Theresa's Catholic Church,
Madalla, Niger State,
yesterday opened up in court,
explaining how they carried
out the attack.

Sokoto was arraigned for
terrorism at the Federal High
Court, Maitama in Abuja.

The Boko Haram leader and
mastermind of the church's
bombing, who since his
arraignment, had denied
involvement or knowledge of
the deadly attack, suddenly
opened up yesterday on how
they plotted and killed over 40
worshippers on December 25,
2011 at about 8.00am. Sokoto
dismissed claims that the attack
on the church was carried out
by a suicide bomber.

Another bombshell by Sokoto is
the financial link Boko Haram
had with Algeria and how a
group which is the sect's
financial backbone had been
instrumental to their means of
fund raising to carry out deadly
attacks. The sharing of funds by
the members of the Islamist
sect, he said, led to the major
crack in Boko Haram.

On the church bombing, Sokoto
told the court that the incident
was a coordinated attack that
was executed by two persons-
Bashir Mohammed and Mukthar
Kafanchan under the
supervision of Sulieman Habib,
who is the commander of Boko
Haram in Niger State.

Giving further insight into how
the attack was carried out, he
said: "It was not a suicide
bomber as many believed. It
was a coordinated attack. The
car that was used for the
operation was parked near the
church, laden with explosives
and later detonated by the
people assigned for the job," he
told the court.

On the Algerian sponsors, he
said an Algerian group,
Muslimiyama, which means 'the
group from the sunset,'
frequently sent money to them.
He noted that it was the
sharing of N40million sent by
the group that split the sect
into two factions.

"There is a group in Algeria,
Muslimiyama, meaning 'the
group from the sunset', which
normally sends money to us.
And it was because of the
sharing of N40million they sent
to us that our sect split into
two.

I was given N500,000 out of
the money which I used to buy
Koran and other books."
However, contrary to reports,
Sokoto said the Presidential
Committee on Dialogue and
Peaceful Resolution of Security
Challenges had never met with
him.