NTA Cameraman Was A Spy, alleges Boko Haram

A purported spokesman for Nigeria’s militant
Islamist sect, the Boko Haram, has claimed
responsibility for the weekend murder of a
state television journalist, the AFP has
reported. The attack weekend was the first
targeting the media.
Nigeria Television Authority cameraman and
reporter Zakariyya Isa was shot dead
Saturday evening in front of his house
shortly after leaving a mosque in the
northeastern city of Maiduguri, where the
sect known as Boko Haram has carried out
most of its attacks.
“Zakariyya was not killed in error,” said
the emailed statement from Abul Qaqa, who
has claimed to speak on behalf of the sect a
number of times in the past.
“We killed him because he was spying on us
for Nigerian security authorities. The killing
was carefully planned and executed.
“We have ample evidence … that he was
giving vital information to security
agencies on our mode of operation that led
to the arrest of many of our members.”
There was however no evidence that the
journalist had acted as an informant, and
both his network and the secret police
strongly denied the claim.
The statement, written in the Hausa
language widely spoken in Nigeria’s north,
said Boko Haram “killed him not because he
was a journalist but for his personal
misconduct.”
It added that the sect would not hesitate to
“kill anybody that steps on our toes”.
The NTA manager in Maiduguri said he had
“no reason to believe that (Isa) was working
as a spy for the security agencies.”
“Zakariyya Isa was a dedicated and loyal
staff,” said Daniya Mohammed. “He was a
kind of person who could not hurt a fly. I
was therefore shocked and sad when I
learnt that he had been killed by some
gunmen.”
Marilyn Ogar, a spokeswoman for Nigeria’s
secret police, said Isa had not worked as an
informant on her agency’s behalf.
Boko Haram has been blamed for scores of
bomb blasts and shootings, mainly in
Nigeria’s northeast. It also claimed
responsibility for the August 26 bombing of
UN headquarters in the capital Abuja that
killed at least 24 people.
Meanwhile, a group that styles itself The
Nigerian Young Journalists Forum has
strongly condemn the killing of Alhaji
Zakariya Isa.
The group in a statement signed by its
President and General Secretary, Ayodele
Samuel and Zacheaus Somorin in Lagos,
yesterday described the killing as barbaric
and assault on the noble profession.
“We therefore called for immediate
investigation of the killing of Alhaji Isa, by
the federal government, while we urge the
Boko Haram sect to stop the killings of media
practitioners and indeed Nigerians in the
cause of their struggle”.