Nigeria military: Sect member at senator's home

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) ? Nigeria's military arrested a member of the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram at the home of a prominent senator, an official said late Friday, adding weight to claims that the violent group has political sponsorship.

Shuaibu Muhammed Bama had been found "in a serving senator's home" in Maiduguri on Thursday night, military spokesman Lt. Col. Sagir Musa said. Musa described Bama as a commander who organized attacks in Bama, a town just southeast of Maiduguri in Borno state.

Those living in Nigeria's Muslim north often take the name of their town or village as a surname. He also is not the first to join Boko Haram from that town. Authorities blamed a Christmas Day car bombing of a Catholic church outside Nigeria's capital that killed at least 44 people on Habibu Bama, a former soldier from the town. Security forces killed Habibu Bama in June, the sect has said.

Musa did not name the senator in his statement. However, the only senator who has a home in the area where Bama was arrested in is Sen. Ahmed Zanna, a member of the governing People's Democratic Party in Nigeria's National Assembly. Zanna and officials in his office could not be immediately reached for comment Saturday morning.

Rumors have always circled that Boko Haram received backing from some political sponsors in Nigeria, a country where politicians often arm militants to rig elections. In January, President Goodluck Jonathan himself said that the sect had infiltrated all levels of government, including the armed forces and security agencies.

This is not the first time a serving senator has been accused of being in league with Boko Haram. Sen. Mohammed Ali Ndume was arrested in November and faces charges over being involved with the group.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north, is blamed for killing more than 690 people this year alone, according to an AP count. The sect wants Nigeria's government to release its imprisoned members and to implement strict Shariah law across this multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people. The sect's attacks have raised religious tensions across Nigeria, which is largely split between its predominantly Christian south and Muslim north.

Meanwhile, violence blamed on the sect continues unstopped despite a large military presence in northeast Nigeria. On Friday, officials and witnesses said gunmen killed a Chinese construction worker in Maiduguri, as an overnight raid in a nearby city left five others dead and several schools razed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-military-sect-member-senators-home-114214994.html

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