Suspect confesses attempt to bomb ThisDay

The suspected bomber, Mustapha Umar, alleged to have masterminded the bombing of SOJ plaza which house Thisday, Sun and Moment newspapers in Kaduna has said the attack on two offices of Thisday newspaper on April 26, 2012 were planned by him and his friends.
He stated that the coordinated attack was not supported by the Boko Haram sect, but was intended to wreck the organisation for publishing insultive materials about Prophet Mohammed.

Umar, 34, a Kanuri from Borno State and a widower with children, said he was not a member of the Boko Haram, saying that he trained under Sheikh Ja’afar M’adam in Maiduguri.
While disclosing that he was educated up to secondary school level having attended the Government Day Secondary School, Maiduguri, Umar stated that the Kaduna bombing was done with the private Honda car he bought a year earlier, while the bombing of the newspaper’s office in Abuja was carried out by his friend - Alhaji - with his (Alhaji’s) jeep.
Umar made this confession during an interview conducted by policemen shortly after he was apprehended after the incident on April 26, 2012.
The recorded interview contained in a video compact disc (VCD) tendered in court on Tuesday by prosecution counsel, S. M. Labaran, was played in the open court on Wednesday.
The trial judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, admitted in evidence a translated transcription of the interview conducted in Hausa.
With the admission of the exhibit, the prosecution closed its case.
The defence, led by Nureini Sulaiman, said he was going to make a no case submission.
Justice Ademola adjourned till June 24 for adoption of all processes in respect of the defence’s no-case submission.