- She lied to police – Seriki, Hausa community leader
The young girl, who reported herself to the police at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti Street, Yaba, Lagos, as a potential suicide bomber and was detained,
has been released and sent back to her home state, Borno.
The arrest and eventual release of the girl, simply identified as Zainab, from police custody came on the heels of her confessions that she had been trained as a suicide bomber by the Boko Haram Islamic sect, preparatory to her storming Lagos to wreak havoc on December 31.
The Point had last weekreported the arrest and detention of Zainab, following her voluntary confession tothe police. The illiterate suspect had told her interrogators at the
SCID that five of them were actually trained for the mission by the outlawed sect. She reportedly added that she had to escape from the custody of the Boko Haram, having realised that she would merely lose her life if she eventually carried out the planned bombing.
All her claims were painstakingly investigated and nothing credible came out of them
But in another version of her story, Zainab told the police that she was a native of Chibok and was among the girls abducted by the Boko Haram sect.
Having listened to her story through an interpreter, crack detectives were said to have been assembled by the leadership of the police for the purpose of carrying out a discreet investigation.
The result of the investigation carried out by the police unearthed the inconsistencies
in all her claims. A police source told our correspondent, “All her claims were painstakingly investigated and nothing credible came out of them.”
After the First Information Report on the matter by the police, authorities were said to have directed that the suspect be handed over to the Seriki Hausawa at Idi-Araba, Lagos.
The source told us that Zainab was eventually taken to the Seriki, “who, once again interviewed her. Seriki was soon to discover that Zainab lies with both sides of her mouth.”
He added that the Seriki ordered the flogging of the suspect and thereafter gave her transport fare to return home.
”The leadership of the Hausa community at Idi Araba later made arrangements for Zainab to be taken back to Maiduguri, before she caused further problems,” the source said.
Confirming the development, the Seriki Hausawa, Alhaji Mustapha Muhammed, told our correspondent that the young girl had lied to the police over the issue.
“The girl was brought to me by the police and when I interrogated her, I discovered
she had been lying. I discovered that she was living with one Adijat, who sent her away, after she found out that she was always going around with men. It was after that that she went to the police to lie that she was from Chibok and that she has been trained as a
suicide bomber by the Boko Haram sect,” Muhammed said.
Spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, Superintendent Dolapo Badmos, did not respond to text messages on the matter and also did not pick calls made to her phone.
Further visit to her Oduduwa office on Tuesday did not also yield any fruitful result as she was said to be attending a meeting with her boss at the Oba Akinjobi Road Police Headquarters.
