Niger state government is to probe the activities of a suspected Islamic sect believed to have links with Boko Haram.
Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, acting on security report given by the League of Imams in the state, yesterday set up a two-man committee to investigate the activities of the sect believed to have a base in Bida town.
Aliyu gave the committee three days to complete their assignment and report back to him to enable government to take “a decisive action.”
He also directed the panel to liaise with the Etsu Nupe and chairman of the Niger state Council of Traditional Rulers, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, in whose domain the alleged sect members were based.
He stated the need for Nigerians to be more vigilant and report such cases to the authorities to forestall any breakdown of law and order in state and the country.
Aliyu, who received the Imams led by their chairman, Sheikh Ibrahim Isah Fari, who came to thank him for the government’s assistance during the group’s recent seminar for Imams in the 19 northern states, urged Nigerians to pray for return of peace to troubled areas in the North and the nation as a whole.
He set up a seven-man committee to study the communiqué released at the end of the seminar, especially the aspect that had to do with the establishment of an Imam institute in the state.
He asked the committee headed by the Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Haruna, to acquire 10 hectares of land for the proposed institute and to advise the government on how to ensure legal backing for the organisation.
