Soldiers arrest Chief Imam, 13 others in Aba

Over 50 soldiers from the 144 Army Barrack, Asa, near Aba stormed the Central Mosque, Aba and arrested the Chief Imam, Alhaji Bashir Idris and 12 other northerners for allegedly hiding weapons in the mosque. The Chief Imam, however, called on the Abia State Governor, Chief Theodore Orji to always verify rumours from the leadership […]

Over 50 soldiers from the 144 Army Barrack, Asa, near Aba stormed the Central Mosque, Aba and arrested the Chief Imam, Alhaji Bashir Idris and 12 other northerners for allegedly hiding weapons in the mosque.

The Chief Imam, however, called on the Abia State Governor, Chief Theodore Orji to always verify rumours from the leadership of the northerners in the state before soldiers or security operatives would clamp down on people and cause so much embarrassment to them.
“We know they are handling security matters. But it is better to verify such things from the leaders of the northern community because we the leaders will always tell government the truth, before clamping down on innocent people,” he said.
Narrating the incident to our reporter on Monday night during a telephone interview, Alhaji Idris said the soldiers numbering 56 to 70 stormed the mosque with the “rumour they said they heard about our people hiding weapons in the mosque.”
Although the Chief Imam said he and eleven others have been released after being detained for about 13 hours, he said two northerners are still being held by the soldiers in the army barrack.
“Around 2a.m. on Sunday night, soldiers numbering about 56 to 70 stormed the mosque. They searched everywhere and they couldn’t find anything incriminating. They didn’t show us any petition but they said they heard rumour and yet after searching everywhere, they didn’t find anything,” Alhaji Idris said.
The soldiers, he said, later took him to his residence and after searching the place and not finding anything, they still took him to the army barrack where he was detained till 3pm the following day when he was released.
“The soldiers went to 92 Hospital Road; they went to 83 Cameroon Road, 32, St. Michael’s Road and all the places where our people are living; they went and arrested one of their chairmen. They searched them and they didn’t find anything incriminating,” he said.
At the New Horizon Academy, a private school owned by a northerner, the soldiers burgled the doors of the school and forced themselves into the school science laboratory where they confiscated the chemical meant for the science students. “The soldiers said the chemical was being used to manufacture bombs. Can you imagine that kind of allegation,” Idris said.
He said up till the time of filing in the report, the Director of the school and the Principal, Abdulraheem Sani and Abdulmagidi Abubakar respectively were being detained by the soldiers.
“The soldiers said they got information that our people are hiding bombs and weapons in the mosque. They have released eleven and are still holding two persons,” he said.
The Chief Imam, nonetheless, appealed to the state Governor to always ignore baseless rumours or try and verify such from the leaders of the northern people resident in the state since they will tell the government the truth.
“We are appealing to the governor, Chief T. A. Orji to always ask the leaders in case of any rumour or the government should ignore any nonsense rumour; the government should not allow soldiers to be causing us this kind of embarrassment because there are southerners living in the north; if they are treated the same way, it may lead to what nobody will like,” he said.