In a Battle to extricate himself from alleged links to dreaded Boko Haram sect, Senator Khlaifa Ahmed Zannah, has disclosed that former governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, whom he says has overwhelming control over the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Bornu State is after him.
Sen. Zanna, who briefed newsmen yesterday in Abuja before heading to answer questions by the State Security Service (SSS) also said he was not surprised that his nephew, Shuaibu Bama, was arrested by the Joint Task Force (JTF), not because he is a Boko Haram member but because he has bad character and is a drug addict.
The Senator who defeated Ali Modu Sheriff in 2011 senatorial (Borno Central) stated that his witch-hunt at the hands of the JTF came barely days after he raised an alarm over the gross extra judicial killings in the state.
He charged the Federal Government to withdraw them from the state as they have flaunted the rules of engagement of their operations, just as he bemoaned that elders of the state have not been consulted on the way of the terrorist attacks in the state.
He said “I represent the Borno Central Senatorial District in the Senate.
My historic defeat of the former Governor of Borno State, in the person of Ali Modu Sheriff at the polls has not and will not go down well with many forces and individuals in this country for some time to come. Therefore, this latest campaign by the Military Joint Task Force in Borno State to disseminate falsehood against me, that is to say that, even though, they arrested Shuaibu Bama at Ali Modu Sheriff’s house, they chose to tell the world that they arrested him in my house, is part of the campaign to rope me in to the JTF dragnet, declare me a Boko Haram member, financier, sympathiser, harbourer or even activist and declare my seat vacant, all to pave way for Ali Modu Sheriff to be hook or crook come to the Senate! No more No less”.
“Brute force no matter how brutally it is used cannot, I repeat, cannot alter what Allah has decided!”
He added “The JTF takes more directive from him (Ali Modu Sheriff) than anybody in this country. This is what I have seen because whenever he comes to Maiduguri, the paraphanelia that they use to welcome him cannot be done even to the president.”
Speaking on the activities of JTF he said “All that is happening is not exposed to you. For instance, the JTF about three days ago went and killed 15 boys playing football. They just shot all of them and everybody ran away. They took them to the mortuary. So the JTF is holding this against me because I am exposing them. We have been quiet for some time. We have to speak up, people are bring killed unnecessarily.”
He also admitted that there is a connection bewteen politics and the Boko Haram activities. He said”yes, of course the spread of Boko Haram is as a result of mixing politics with the security of this country. And that is the reason why until today they are not able to counter this insurgency.”
On the arrest of his nephew he said “I am not surprised. What I am saying is that I don’t know him to be a member of Boko Haram, therefore I cannot accept. I know him to be of a bad character and a drug addict.
” I was never told they were looking for him, I was never contacted by anyone. I saw him last six months ago. He lives around that area, although for the last three months, I have not gone home because I went on an operation outside the country.”