Operatives of the Joint Task Force are
detaining two professionals, a medical doctor and a lawyer, allegedly
for their roles in the prevailing violence in the area.
The authorities of the Defence Headquarters are silent on the issues that culminated in the arrest of the doctor and the lawyer.
It was gathered that while the doctor
was arrested in Maiduguri, Borno State, the lawyer is said to be a
prominent defender of the ideology and activities of the insurgents in
Potiskum, Yobe’s largest city.
Investigation revealed that the doctor,
who is being held in a JTF detention centre, was believed to have links
with the World Health Organisation and other international non-
government organisations.
A highly placed source in the JTF said
the doctor was arrested while riding with suspected Boko Haram members
in a pickup van, which was carrying Improvised Explosive Devices,
several AK 47 Assault riffles and other dangerous weapons.
It was gathered that the driver and the
other occupants refused to stop at a JTF road block and abandoned the
truck after engaging the security agents in a gun duel.
It was learnt that the doctor, suspected
to me a medical expert to the sect, was caught while attempting to
retrieve a forgotten laptop in the van several hours after the incident.
The vehicle was said to be under watch by operatives of the JTF.
But the doctor was said to have told his
interrogators that he was doing some work with the World Bank and had
to board the pickup van belonging to the terror suspects when he had
issues with his car.
Security operatives have dismissed the
explanation given by the doctor as untenable, arguing that a doctor, who
had issues with his car, could not have been riding with terror
suspects in a car loaded with explosives, guns and other dangerous
weapons.
It was further leant that several
non-governmental organisations, including international human rights
body, the Amnesty International, had visited the Defence Headquarters,
Abuja, in relation with the arrest of the doctor.
Apart from the shocking arrest of the
doctor, the JTF in Yobe is holding a “highly placed lawyer” in Potiskum
for suspected act of terrorism.
The lawyer was said to have been
arrested and detained as a result of intelligence report that he was
aiding terrorism and had always appeared for the insurgents in court.
Security operatives are said to have
established some links between the lawyer and the killing of a teacher
and 29 students of the Government Secondary School, on July 5.
It was learnt that the lawyer was said to have threatened that Potiskum would not know peace until he was released.
A security operative stated that the
school students were killed on the second night of his alleged threat
that there would be vengeance for his arrest.
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