The Nigerian security service have reportedly commenced a high-level investigation of a monarch in northern Nigeria, suspected to have links with the members of Boko Haram.
The investigation became necessary following intelligence gathered from Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, regarding difficulties being faced by Nigeria in extraditing of the alleged mastermind of the April 14, 2014, bombing of Nyanya motor-park, near Abuja, Aminu-Sadiq Ogwuche.
According to Vanguard, the jet sent to Sudan by the Nigerian government to convey the suspect from the Sudanese capital, Khatoum, returned empty after waiting for three days without making a headway in the extradition process”.
Information made available, late last night, from the base of the traditional ruler, Sudan and Abuja, suggested that the focus of the investigation of the monarch had to do with funding and remittances allegedly made with a view to blocking the extradition of Ogwuche.
According to Vanguard reports,
It was learnt from the multiple high-level sources that the sudden uncooperative disposition of the Sudanese government in the matter “is not unconnected with the influence which the traditional ruler is known to wield in Sudan, as well as his contacts over the years in that Islamic country”.
All efforts to get official confirmation from the National Information Centre, the body saddled with the co-ordination and dissemination of information regarding the war on terror, proved abortive.
However, sources in the intelligence community insisted that a good lead was being followed in the matter concerning the monarch.
“It is something that is very discreet that we are doing but I will neither confirm nor deny to you that we are carrying out investigation to substantiate the claims of complicity by the monarch”, a highly placed source said.
It was discovered that the main reason for the “forceful blocking of the extradition of Ogwuche is to stall any possibility of his return to Nigeria and buckle under intense interrogation and possibly reveal the names of the sponsors of the insurgents”, the source said.
Indeed, the Sudanese Embassy in Nigeria may be playing footsy as our correspondent, Victoria Ojeme, who had earlier interviewed the country’s ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Tagelsir Mahgoub Ali, spent over four hours at the embassy, on Friday, in her quest to seek clarifications on the extradition saga.
The interview with the ambassador had been published last month and it centred on the anticipated cooperation of Sudan in extraditing the Nyanya bombing suspect to Nigeria.
But, on Friday, all efforts to get the ambassador to clear the air on the monarch’s links to the continuing difficulty being encountered by Nigeria in the extradition of the suspect did not yield positive result.
However, after the over four-hour wait at the embassy, what Sunday Vanguard got was to the effect that the case was being handled by Interpol and it had received a court order from Nigeria while there is an Interpol procedure which, as soon as it is properly followed to the letter, “everything will be in place”
At press time, Sunday Vanguard was told by a top security source: “President Goodluck Jonathan is ready to go to any length, working with the security agencies, to get to the root of the matter and ensure that Nigerians are spared the terror unleashed by insurgents. Nobody, no matter how highly placed in the society, would be spared and the country is ready to ensure that Ogwuche is brought back to this country to face the consequences of his alleged action”.
`No extradition treaty’
Saturday Vanguard had, yesterday, reported that Sudan’s refusal to extradite Ogwuche followed the alleged intervention of the monarch. He was said to have moved in to stop the extradition of the suspect using the instrumentality of his alma mater, African International University, in Sudan.
Apart from this, Sudan whose President, Omar al-Bashir, is wanted by the International Criminal Court, ICC, for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, has no bilateral agreement with any country in the world on extradition of criminals.
The monarch, who was said to have used alma mater on several occasions to recommend and secure admission for some Nigerian youths in Sudan, allegedly used his influence to reach out to some old students of the university to frustrate the extradition of Ogwuche possibly to prevent Nigerian security from getting details from the suspect on some of the financiers of Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria.