Soldiers arrest chief imam on Abia State after chemicals are found next to mosque -

SOLDIERS in Abia State recently arrested the chief imam of Aba Central Mosque Alhaji Bashir Idris and two teachers from the New Horizon Academy in the city over a package of chemical materials found at the school.   Over the weekend, soldiers attached to the Joint Task Force raided the academy, which is attached to the mosque and found the chemicals, which could be used for bomb making. They subsequently arrested the chief imam and the school's director and chemistry teacher, Abdulraham Sani and its principal and English teacher Abdulmajid Abubakar.   Sources at the Ama Hausa area at Mosque Street, Aba, said that 13 out 15 persons, including the chief imam arrested during a military raid have since been released. They were interrogated by soldiers of the 144 Battalion, based in Asa in Ukwa West Local Government Area of the state.   Imam Idris said: “The soldiers took us to the army base at Ngwa Road, Aba before moving us to 144 Battalion at Asa where they interrogated us. They said that they were looking for bombs and some weapons which they said we are sharing.   “We don’t keep or manufacture bombs and do not support or encourage any person to make or keep bombs. The mosque is a holy place where we all gather to pray and we have been living peacefully with Aba residents and will not be part of any plan to cause insecurity in Aba where we all do our lawful businesses.”   Since the last incident, the chief imam was invited back to the barracks for interrogation by the Nigerian Army. He called on the soldiers to release Sani and Abubakar who are in charge of the school as they are innocent.   Alhaji Musa Iheakaram, the former Amirul Hajj of Abia State, said: “Out of the 15 people they arrested, they are still holding the two principal officers of the school. It is true that the school is under the Muslim community but the school itself does not belong to the Imams.   "It is duly registered with the Abia State government and also run according to the academic curriculum and education system of the state being used to teach in other schools in the state. If the soldiers want to get any information about the school, they should ask the school director and the principal who are already with them and are better placed to provide them with the needed information about the school, not inviting the chief imam who is not in charge of the school."   He called on the soldiers to check other chemistry and physics laboratories in other secondary schools in the state and see if the chemicals they use for practicals are different from the one found at the school. Alhaji Iheakaram, said Muslims have started leaving the state in droves because of the way they now being treated in the last two weeks. -