Christmas Day Bombing: Kabiru 'Sokoto' Denies Responsibility

The suspected mastermind of the 2011 Christmas Day bombing at the St Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, Kabiru Umar, aka Kabiru Sokoto, told an Abuja High Court on Monday, that he knew nothing of the attack .


Umar, who testified for himself as he opened his defence at the court, said he was tortured by the police and later made to write statements, as he denied knowledge of the crime for which he was being tried, insisting that nothing incriminating was found in his house when security agents went there to search.

Umar, who said he was arrested at the Borno State Government Lodge, Abuja on January 14, 2012 but refused to state why he was at the lodge, told the court that he hailed from Gagi in Sokoto South Local Government, Sokoto and that he was a teacher and an islamic scholar.

The suspect, who opened his defence after last week’s  ruling  of the court which  dismissed his no-case submission, said it was his interrogators who told him about one Habib Barma, whom  they claimed coordinated the bombing at the Mandalla church.

He is expected to be cross-examined on Tuesday by the prosecution having concluded his evidence-in-chief  on Monday.