Terrorism Allegation: Military JTF Hides Borno ANPP Chairman

Sagir-MusaThe Borno State Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, (ANPP), Alhaji Mala Othman, has been detained by the military Joint Task Force (JTF) known as ‘Operation Restore Order’ over his alleged links with Boko Haram.

Alhaji Othman, who narrowly escaped being lynched last week by a Youth Volunteer group popularly called ‘Civilian JTF’ in Maiduguri, had his house burnt down by the youths who accused him of being a senior member of the deadly Islamist sect.

Following the attempt on his life, the Secretary of the ANPP in Borno State, Malam Bakura Shettima, issued a statement exonerating its chairman as a member of Boko Haram saying that Othman was “an accomplished politician who has the interest of the people and the development of the state at heart.”

The spokesman of the Joint Task Force in Maiduguri, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, could not be reached to confirm why Alhaji Othman was detained, but a top military source in Abuja claimed that, “the ANPP chairman is being held in order to provide him protection. If the JTF had not picked him, he would have been killed by the youths who burnt down his house.”