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Exclusive
- Obasanjo
,Shehu Sani & Babakura: Interview
with
an
insider
Newsdiaryonline
Mon Sep 19,2011
Late Mohammed Yusuf
Zanna Mustapha, friend of the Baba Fugu family speaks on
Babakura and General Olusegun Obasanjo’s visit to Maiduguri.
Babakura was assassinated last Saturday in Maiduguri days after
his meeting with
the retired General and former President Obasanjo who had gone
to initiate peace talks with the Boko Haram sect.Babakura was
the brother -in -law of Mohammed Yusuf
the late leader of Boko Haram who was extra- judicially
killed in 2009.Baba Fugu ,the father in law of Yusuf was equally
extra judicially executed in 2009, a move that led Babakura and
his family to head to a court for justice.A Maiduguri High Court
ruled in favour of his family asking
government to pay them N100million
compensation.
Read the interview below for more revealing insights into the
bloody saga. Mustapha -a lawyer and activist who runs Future
Prowess,
non-governmental organization in Borno state – in this chat
confirmed that it was activist Shehu Sani who contacted Obasanjo.(Obasanjo
and Sani forged a ‘friendship’ as prison
inmates
while they were tried and jailed by the late
General Sani Abacha junta over what is now called the
phantom coup plot).Mustapha
who is also
a lawyer spoke
yesterday (Sunday)
afternoon by telephone from Maiduguri
to Danlami Nmodu,publisher
Newsdiaryonline
.Excertpts:
Q:What happened to Babakura on Saturday?
A: Babakura was killed yesterday (Saturday)
afternoon around 1.00pm when he was about going to the Mosque.He
was the only person killed by a gunman.I don’t know who that
person is.
Q:
Was it one person?
A: O yes it was one person
Q:Was he masked ..and did people know him?
A:
No
Q:Was he wearing a mask?
A: No,he was not wearing any mask
Q:Now you know his killing came a few days after Babakura’s
meeting with President
Obasanjo.Can you tell us the intrigues, the background that led
to that meeting?
A: The fact is that Babakura is the head of
the family of Baba Fugu.Baba Fugu was the father in law to late
Mohammed Yusuf.So Babakura being the eldest son of Baba Fugu was
the one following up the judgment of the High Court in Maiduguri
where the court gave judgment for them to be given N100m as
compensation.So when this judgment was delivered to them..they
could not get the benefit of that judgment.So they were now
going about.So they happened to meet Shehu Sani who happens to
be an activist.He assisted them to meet General Obasanjo
who in his position as an elder statesman...
Q:Let
me get you clearly.Babakura Fugu met Shehu Sani and asked him to
meet Obasanjo?
A:No , to assist him(Babakura) in getting the proceeds of the
judgment.So from there, Shehu Sani thought of former President
Obasanjo.And then Obasanjo said he would come and hear from the
horse’s mouth what happened.That was the last thing I can say of
this thing
Q:So Obasanjo came principally to help with the execution of the
judgment
A(Interjects) And assist the family .He
therefore then commiserated with the family , then left.
Q:So it wasn’t as if he (Obasanjo) came for a peace meeting, to
organize peace with Boko Haram?
A:Not actually, but by extension, it
is.Actually there is no way you will look for peace without
getting to this thing.Because Baba Fugu was killed in the crisis
and he happens to be an in law to late Mohammed Yusuf and the
daughter of BabaFugu
was married to Mohammed Yusuf and had seven children with
him.So that is it.So there is no way, by extension if you pay
this N100m ,you are paying the wife of Mohammed Yusuf,his
children…The inheritance in Islam is that whoever you give this
money… the family has to share the proceeds of that judgment.
Q:Unfortunately Babakura
was killed days
later
A: Yes
Q:But there was this
report that even Boko Haram whom people suspected to have
killed him has denied killing him?
A:That is what happened, yeah
Q:You are aware they
have denied the killing right?
A: Very
well,very well.
Q:..Do you believe their denial?
A:Well what happened actually is that I knew these people
to be
fearless
Q:(Unclear
word ,so word repeated)
Fearless?
A: Fearless,When they say things, they mean it.That is what
I know of
the organization
Q: So that is why you
believe they were not responsible for the killing?
A:Yes, if they were, they don’t bother if it is anybody.If it
was them they would say they were.I don’t know whether there is
a splinter, of which I
doubt…But it could be..
Q:But then what is going
on?
A:The Security agencies have to be the ones to tell us this
, because anything can happen. Anything can happen.Yeah!
Q:What was your
relationship with Babakura Fugu?
A:Well, my own here is
that even to his
father, I had been very close,even to his
father not to Babakura
in fact.So I am very close
to Babakura too.
Q:You run an NGO in Maiduguri?
A:Yes, I run an NGO in Maiduguri
Q:Tell us more about it?
A:Yeah the NGO is giving supportive service
to orphans and vulnerable children. It is an Islamiyya , an
Islamic school where positive society values are given to
orphans and vulnerable children in Maiduguri.And we have 300 of
them.And luckily enough,....that same Thursday Obasanjo came,the
International Islamic Relief Organization, based in Saudi Arabia
came to the school and awarded 300 scholarships to all the
orphans in this school up to university level (noisy voices,
perhaps of children in the background)..
Q:The Islamic what? Islamic Foundation?
A:..It is International Islamic Relief
Organization.
Q:Okay
A:It is a registered NGO with the United Nations.
Q:What is the name of
your own NGO again?
A:Future Prowess.
Q:Okay,but then why
would anybody want to kill Baba Kura who was involved in peace
talks with Obasanjo, one way or the other?
A:Well you know the problem with this thing
is that, it is just like
a disease.When
it sets in ..there are many opportunistic diseases that
may come in.So I felt there must be some certain
elements,because there are car snatchings, there are robberies
here in Maiduguri right
away..So these incidents, can you say that it is Jamaatul Al
Sunnah that is doing it?No.So that is the question?So there
may be some sinister reasons behind this thing but one may not
be sure.
Q:You seem to be convinced and you believe Boko Haram’s
statement that they were not responsible for this killing?
A: Well let me tell you,you cannot separate Baba Fugu’s family
from Jamaatul al sunnah.....
Q:That is Boko Haram
A:The wife of late Mohammed Yusuf is a daughter to Baba Fugu and
this same (Babakura) is an elder brother to the wife. So why on
earth can those people kill him.They should have killed Baba
Fugu, first if that is the case….
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