High-Profile Boko Haram Member Arrested At Senator’s Home

Nigerian authorities said Friday they had arrested an alleged high-profile member of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram at the home of a senator in the violence-torn Nigerian city of Maiduguri. The statement from a military task force in Maiduguri did not name the senator and provided few other details. There have been allegations of links between elements of Boko Haram and local politicians in the past. “A high-profile Boko Haram commander, one Shuaibu Mohammed Bama, who has been on the list of wanted terrorists was arrested by task force troops in a serving senator’s house,” the statement said of the arrest on Thursday. “He is in the custody of the (task force) and assisting in the investigation and has since made startling revelations.” In November 2011, Nigerian secret police said they had arrested an alleged Boko Haram spokesman with ties to a member of parliament. The alleged links, however, appeared to involve local politics in Nigeria’s northeast. Nigerian authorities frequently exaggerate their efforts in arresting or cracking down on Boko Haram, which has carried out scores of bombings and shootings.