Niger Gov Begins Probe Of Boko Haram-like Sect In Bida

April 30 2014 at 6:59am News

Niger State governor Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu has set up a two-man committee to investigate the activities of an Islamic sect based in Bida that allegedly practises Islam the same way as the Boko Haram.

The governor’s action comes on the heels of the report of the Niger State Jumaat Imams Forum which says the Islamic group contravened the practice of Islam and is capable of impeaching the peace of the state.

The governor who received the Jumaat Imams yesterday at Government House, Minna, was told by the Imams that the name, the position and belief system of the group was almost the same with that of the Boko Haram which has waged a war of insurgency on the nation.

Aliyu, who was said to be visibly concerned about the report, therefore, set up the two-man committee made up of the Commissioner for Religious Affairs Alhaji Shehu Haruna and the commissioner for local government Alhaji Yusuf Garba Tagwai to find out and report to him within three days.

“Based on your concern over the Islamic group in Bida, I hereby direct the commissioner for religious affairs and the commissioner for local government to immediately find out about the Islamic group and report back to me in three days before I know what I can do”, the governor declared.

Earlier, the Secretary of Niger State Jumaat Imam Forum, Sheik Umar Farouk, had informed the governor about the existence of an Islamic sect in Bida that they had an encounter with whose ideology cannot be differentiated from that of Boko Haram.

Farouk who did not give the name of the group said: “They came here; what they were saying really baffled us. Though they said they are not Boko Haram, we have our reservations because we don’t want to compromise peace of the state”.

“We were also told that the leader of the sect in Bida travels for three months to an unknown places with his phones off, and he only switches on if he wanted to talk to anybody and come back.”