In search of justice, a group, Council For Eastern Justice, CFEJ, has
initiated moves to drag embattled Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria,
CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to the National conference over the
beheading of Gideon Akaluka, an Igbo trader in 1995, and other killings of
people of Igbo extraction.
Akaluka, a young Igbo trader, allegedly desecrated the Koran. He was
arrested after his wife allegedly used pages of the Koran as toilet paper
for her baby. After the police locked him up, a group of Muslim
fundamentalists broke into the police station cells, beheaded Akaluka, and
paraded his bodiless head around the streets of Kano.
Sanusi, and eight others were arrested and locked up for the crime, on the
orders of the then Head of State, General Sani Abacha. Investigation by
the authorities revealed that Sanusi was the kingpin of the murderous
gang.
CFEJ said through its spokes person, Chief Sylvanus Emeka Okeke said the
intention is to draw attention to the series of unresolved killings of
Igbos in the North and to seek for justice.
“We are doing this to draw the attention of the unresolved and the
continuous killings of Igbos in the North under the watchful eyes of
Northern Leaders.”
According to him, “Akaluka was beheaded in 1995, several other Igbos have
been killed in the North and no one seem to have been punished for such
dastardly act. This cannot continue to happen if we really want to live as
one in this country.”
“We want to know what Sanusi knows about the killing and if there are
those who knew about it still alive today. We want justice for Akaluka and
others and we want the wanton killings of Igbos to stop,” Okeke Said.
The group said it is sending a petition to the South East Delegates at the
on-going National Conference.
Okeke said, “we are sending a petition to the South East delegates at the
National conference and we will articulate all the unresolved killings of
Igbos in the North.”
He noted that, “Ndi Igbos have suffered in the Northern Part of Nigeria.
Often times they are killed, their businesses destroyed and no one is held
accountable yet we talk of one Nigeria. The National Conference would
decide if indeed Igbos are free and save to live anywhere they choose to
in our current entrapment called Nigeria.
Pointblanknews.com recalled that, Sanusi, an alleged Boko Haram
sympathizer, and proponent of the controversial Islamic Bank, played a
role in the murder of Akaluka. The Abacha regime locked him up for two
years for the murder of Akaluka.
Sources hinted that shortly after returning from Khartoum, Sudan where he
earned a degree in Sharia and Islamic studies, at the International
University of Africa, Sanusi became a recluse and immersed himself in the
Koran and became a teacher of the Hadith as espoused by the Wahabbists.
Wahhabism is an ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam. It is a
religious movement among fundamentalist (with an aspiration to return to
the primordial fundamental Islamic sources Qur`an, Hadeeth and Scholarly
consensus (Ijma)) Islamic believers. Wahhabism was a popular revivalist
movement instigated by an eighteenth century theologian, Muhammad ibn Abd
al-Wahhab (1703–1792) from Najd, Saudi Arabia.
Sanusi, who is alleged to detest the President Goodluck Jonathan’s
administration, because according to him, it is anti-islam, was part of a
nine-man clique of extremists who had a huge following.
A source said, “when Sanusi returned from Sudan where he associated with
very extreme personalities, he was not a happy man. he was treated like an
outcast in royal circles because his grandfather, was deposed as Emir of
Kano. So his anger grew. “
During that period, the incident of desecration of the Koran by the
Akalukas surfaced. According to our source, during that period the Abacha
government was not comfortable with the activities of the extremists in
Kano, who they view with suspicion.
The regime, it was gathered, silently assassinated a lot of them. Said our
source “ When Akaluka was locked up, Sanusi and eight others mobilized
some extremist mob who stormed the prison and killed Akaluka. The regime
identified the masterminds, so mandated its hit squad to eliminate the
nine, including Sanusi .”
Pointblanknews.com gathered that eight of the masterminds were
assassinated by Abacha, but for the intervention of former First Bank
chairman, and father of Christmas Day bomber, Alhaji Umar Mutallab and
others.
“ It was Muttallab and the rest who were heavy sponsors of Islamic
activities who prevailed on Abacha to spare Sanusi. They are argued that
since he has gone through a lot, treated like a pariah in the royal
circles because his grandfather was deposed, he should be spared. So They
decided to remove him from Kano to Sokoto where he was locked up for two
years.” Said the source
It was further learnt that after his release from prison, Sanusi was
handed over to Mutallab who pushed him into banking because he(Sanusi) had
a degree in Economics from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU). From there he
moved to the United Bank for Africa, and the First bank, from where he
rose quietly until late President Umar Yar’Adua recruited him to head CBN
and spearhead the introduction of the Islamic Bank.
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