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Sheikh Ja’afar’s Assasination: The Inside Story of Shekarau’s new Conspiracies, Cover ups and Culpability

June 30, 2009

Image removed.When Saharareporters published the exclusive story of the murder of Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmud Adam, in April 2007, and revealed how the Kano State Government, under  Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, and the Kano Emirate Council, under HRH Alhaji (Dr.) Ado Bayero, had plotted and conspired in the tragedy which took place as the popular Islamic scholar was leading a dawn prayer at his mosque in Dorayi quarters of Kano metropolis, the media, particularly those from the North with the exception of Desert Herald, were deliberately silent about the issue, probably having been compromised by the principal suspects to bury the story.



There has been a conspiracy, and disbursement of gratification in the millions of Naira through the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Abdulkarim Hassan, to selected media organizations, particularly the northern based national dailies, to ensure a total media blackout of this story.

To begin with, it is instructive that none of those papers has questioned or investigated and reported our story to their readers. But when it was time to publicize false and mischievous propaganda aimed at exonerating Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau and HRH Alhaji Ado Bayero, those papers were active in the sponsored reports to justify how the Kano State government was ‘implicated’ and to report the ‘good news’ that a principal suspect, contrary to some earlier media reports, has now been arrested.

The sensational headline of Weekly Trust of last Saturday, 27th June 2009, is a typical example of how the media in Nigeria is being manipulated to cover the massive crimes of those in positions of authority. In the report, Weekly Trust, although the caption of the said story reads: “Suspected killer of Sheikh Ja’afar Arrested,” went against journalistic practice to say that by the announcement of the arrest of Alhaji Ado Muhammed by the police, “reprieve has finally come to the Kano State Governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, who was accused of having a hand in the killing of the revered Islamic teacher.” Image removed.

How can the arrest of a suspected killer currently under interrogation and without even concluding the investigation bring reprieve to the Governor? How come the paper was so desperate to exonerate Malam Ibrahim Shekarau and the other conspirators?

It is also interesting to note that the information in our story was deliberately distorted by the Kano State government in stories published by both Daily Trust and Leadership newspapers without any of them categorically referring to the original report with a view to verifying the distortion, anomaly and how they were misled by both Malam Shekarau and his media aid, Sule Ya’u Sule in the desperate attempt to deceive the general public and the police authorities. For example, both Daily Trust and Leadership newspapers reported, without visiting the Saharareporters’ site to verify the claim that the online news agency had posted a photocopy of a cheque of N100 million in our report.

In his belated and deceptive press conference, the Kano State Director of Press and Public Relations, Sule Ya’u Sule, who earlier confirmed the public skepticism and suspicions by telling press men that he “did not call the press conference to respond to any question by the members of the press,” but to fabricate his own lies and deny the press the right to ask questions for clarification. His action has also implicated  the Kano State government further by claiming that the purported letter from the office of the SSG instructing the Finance Ministry to release the sum of N100 million and the cheque, was posted with the earlier Saharareporters story. 

The Governor, apparently confused, also corroborated the Sule Ya’u’s tale in his address at the state-owned radio station, claiming that both documents were posted on the website of Saharareporters. Under normal conditions, it would be the responsibility of a responsible media organization to visit the “offending” website in order to verify the claims of both Shekarau and Sule Ya’u about the purported cheque and the letter said to have been posted there. But they didn’t, and therby mischievously they gave the impression that those documents were actually posted on Saharareporters

However, going through the entire reports of Saharareporters.com, which were widely reprinted and photocopied throughout Nigeria and beyond, there was nowhere in the report or among the documents attached where a cheque of N100 million and a letter purportedly from the Permanent Secretary Research, Evaluation and Political Affairs, Bello Shehu Usman, appeared. The only document attached to the story on the website is a copy of the confessional statement of one Malam Tijjani Garba to the police. In the attached confessional statement, Tijjanni Garba confessed that he was hired by one Alhaji Abba Gana, who is known to be very close to Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, to eliminate Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmud Adam. Image removed.

Tijjani Garba was categorical that the instruction emanated from Governor Ibrahim Shekarau and that he was rewarded with the sum of N50 million. It was during our investigation that we discovered that Alhaji Abba Gana was given the sum of N100 million cash and not by cheque by the Kano State Government through the SSG’s office and coordinated by the same Permanent Secretary, Malam Bello Shehu Usman to Alhaji Abba Gana to execute the denier’s act against an innocent soul. The question now remains: are the Kano State government and other media that carried the concocted lies ready to explain where they saw the documents purported to have been on Saharareporters.com? The photocopies of the original story and the documents that were printed by Saharareporters can still be verified from the website or from thousands of people across the country that reprinted it when it was first published in April 2009.

The bitter truth, which the Kano State government may not like to hear, is that Ado Mohammed is not in any way connected with the murder of Sheikh Ja’afar Adam. His ordeal was orchestrated by the Kano State government, using him as a scapegoat believing that the public and the security agencies will believe their innocence. The Nigerian police come in handy in doing these types of despicable cover up snow jobs.

It is important to understand that the vice chairman of the Freedom Radio, Ado Mohammed, had once lodged a complaint to the police about his missing cheque book. It can be confirmed that it was masterminded through the office of the SSG, Alhaji Abdulkarim Alhassan, for the purpose of implicating both Ado Mohammed and Freedom Radio. Alhaji Ado Mohammed’s offence is his alleged role in the investigative story of the Shekarau’s fertilizer scam of 2004 aired by Freedom Radio. While the Kano State government is hunting the Radio Station for daring to air the multi-billion naira fertilizer scam which nearly consumed Governor Shekarau’s second term bid, Desert Herald and its Publisher, Mallam Tukur Mamu, were recently also targets for daring to report the Sheikh Ja’afar story and why the Governor could be held responsible. The paper acted fast by informing the authorities about the plot to implicate them; and was how the plot was frustrated.

It should be known that this is not the first time the Kano State government is using their contact in Bank PHB to execute their shady transaction, using cheques to implicate their target. What remains unanswered even after the arrest of Alhaji Ado Mohammed is this: Is the said account his personal account or does it belong to FILAPS, the mother company of Freedom Radio? The attached cheque, as it is illustrated, is one of those that were used through the office of the SSG to carry illegal transaction using Bank PHB, while the Executive Director of Freedom Radio, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, said that FILAPS operates a bank account No. 0091020000216 with the Bank PHB branch at No. 17/18, Bello Road, Kano; and that at an earlier date FILAPS cheque leaves nos. 10196588, 10196589 and 10196590 where missing. Ironically however, one of the missing cheques (10196590) was found to be the particular one attached by the Government House petition on which it was claimed the N100 million was withdrawn but from a different account (008102000016).

The same attached cheque of N100 million serial no. 10196590 was among the four cheques from the same account issued through the SSG’s office to four judges that handled the Kano gubernatorial election appeal tribunal as bribes to influence the judgment in favor of Governor Shekarau. The wise judges reportedly returned the Bank PHB cheques issued in their names, insisting on cash before they could accept to make the controversial judgment. In fact, it is on record that the judgment had to be delayed till 9 pm to enable them collect the cash before giving the judgment in favor of Governor Shekarau. The judges were Justices A.A. Adebara from Port Harcourt; A.K. Bati, whose name appeared in the attached cheque, from Benue; S.K. Amadi, from Enugu; and Muntari Yushau from Zamfara State.
 
The initial plan like they have done in the case of Sheikh Ja’afar was to issue a cheque that will not only bounce but will be traced to the account of Alhaji Ado Mohammed. Why did the Permanent Secretary for Research and Political matters, Bello Shehu Usman, refuse to inform the Police authorities in Kano about the Bank PHB cheque he personally processed and issued to the judge? Where did the SSG get the cheque leaf issued to the judge? Why is the Kano State government silent about the claim of their culpability since the Sheikh Ja’afar imbroglio started, and only reacted with so much propaganda when Alhaji Ado was implicated and arrested?

If it is true that Permanent Secretary Bello Shehu had petitioned the police in his personal capacity, as Governor Shekarau wants us to believe, why did he use the official letter head paper of the government in writing the petition?  Why did the Kano State Commissioner of Police not effect any arrest to investigate the copy of the confessional statement of Malam Tijjani Garba as published by Saharareporters?
Image removed.Governor Shekarau also said that he knows some influential people that were silently invited and interrogated over the murder of Sheikh Ja’afar but refused to justify why the Kano State government did not publicize such invitations or disclose those names. He also failed to tell the public why Alhaji Ado was not discreetly invited like they allegedly did to the faceless others. The motive is to deceive the public that Governor Shekarau did not actually sponsor the assassination of Sheikh Ja’afar.

The public will also want to know why it took over two months for Bello Shehu Usman to complain to the Police and how he came across the said cheque and the letter that he claimed to be forged.

It should be noteworthy here that an honest investigation by the police will definitely reveal that Governor Shekarau’s Special Assistant on Special Duties, Suleiman Uba, was the one used by the SSG to steal the cheque book so as to implicate Alhaji Ado and Freedom Radio. He attempted to do the same to Desert Herald if not for the timely intervention of God. 
              
It may also interest the public to know that investigations have revealed that neither the alleged beneficiary of the N100 million Bank PHB cheque nor the mother company has actually benefited, as no such amount was recorded as being deposited in their accounts during the period. Similarly, the government account was also found never to have been debited to justify the transaction. One will also want to know how they got one of the three missing cheques they used in their petition. Certainly, the cheque was stolen by them and the real conspirator behind the plot is the SSG of Kano. He has misled and destroyed Malam Ibrahim Shekarau. The idea of eliminating Sheikh Ja’afar as the solution to 2007 gubernatorial ambition was sold to the Governor and perfected by the SSG.

If the Police is actually interested in serving the cause of justice, the Permanent Secretary, Research, Evaluation and Political Affairs, Bello Shehu, must be arrested and investigated, and made to tell the police how and where on the Saharareporters  website he saw the letter and the cheque that prompted him to write a petition after two months? There was never a time Saharareporters published those two documents as claimed by Sule Ya’u Sule in his press conference. The Permanent Secretary and the Kano SSG should tell the police where they got the letter and the copy of the said cheque. Image removed.

It is important for the police authorities to visit Saharareporters.com or to obtain the original copies of the reprints of the story published by the website in April, 2009, and ask the petitioner why it took him that long to petition the police authorities.

For emphasis, Sheikh Ja’afar’s murder was sponsored by the Kano State government under Malam Ibrahim Shekarau. His brutal assassination has also received the blessing of HRH Alhaji (Dr.) Ado Bayero. Any attempt by the police to manipulate justice in that regard and to persecute the innocent Alhaji Ado Mohammed, the Freedom Radio and Desert Herald Newspaper will be exposed and will be resisted by well meaning Nigerians. The travails of the elderly Alhaji Ado Muhammed was orchestrated by the Kano State SSG and will be diligently investigated and reported on SaharaReporters. We need to assure our compatriots in Kano and elsewhere in Nigeria that our interest in ensuring that the killers of Ja'far Adam are brought to justice will not wane regardless of threats, blackmail or further attempts on our life.

It is noteworthy that when Mallam Shekarau visited New York recently, Saharareporters, through text messages and calls to his aides, requested a one-on-one interview with him, but all those approaches were rebuffed. Also, a call to Sule Yau Sule, the governors's chief press secretary turned into a shouting march when Saharareporters confronted the CPS to the governor with corollary information concerning Shekarau's shenanigans.

 

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