INTERVIEW | Rtd. Gen Adeka opens up on Boko Haram, Mai Tatsine and CAN

Says Boko Haram is the successor terror group to Mai Tatsine

▪︎ Mai Tatsine’s Muhammad Marwa was a creation of Northern Christians

▪︎ CAN is an offshoot of Ogboni confraternity, not representing Christians 

▪︎ Attacks by Boko Haram have nothing to do with Islam

A retired military officer and former Special Adviser on Security to the Nasarawa State Government, Brigadier General Muhammad Ibn Umar Adeka (rtd) in an exclusive interview with Muslim News dropped a bombshell, alleging that Boko Haram is an offshoot of Mai Tatsine, a dangerous group that wrecked havoc in the North in the 70s before it met its Waterloo in the 80s. In this shocking revelation, the comparative scholar also claimed that the leader of Mai Tatsine, Muhammad Marwa was sponsored by the northern Christian leaders in a bid to preach radical Islam. He also argued that Christianity was never a religion adding that Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is an offshoot of Ogboni secret society.

About Mai Tatsine connection with Boko Haram

Professor Dauda Ojobi is a living professor. He is an Idoma man from Benue state currently living in Kaduna. He was the Northern Secretary of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in 1954. He is also a retired Professor from Benue State University, faculty of Law, the third Reverend Father from northern Nigeria, after Paul Gindiri, and GG Ganaka, the first Nigerian Overseer of Baptist Church in Kaduna, and One-time Commissioner of Justice in Bauchi State.

He narrated the claims in an article which was widely circulated recently and I confirmed the the verity from him during my research on the subject.

He was part of the meeting held in Jos to send some Christians as new Muslim reverts to Sudan to study Islam and learn Arabic. The schedule for them was to come back and misinterpret the Qur’an and preach violence in order to destabilize Northern Nigeria.

Of the five people that went to Sudan, three embraced Islam and became true Muslims. They refused to come back and remained there as true Muslims. Two of them, Muhammad Marwa and Burema came back. Burema was sent to Niamey, Niger Republic for his own assignment while Marwa was sent to Kano for his assignment. He started his dangerous ideology, called Mai Tatsine, similar to that of Boko Haram, saying western education, watching of TV, using wristwatch are all haram.

The grandfather of the current Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi, who was then an Emir discovered that Marwa (Mai Tatsine) who was widely known as a Muslim scholar was collecting parcels from the Pope from Vatican. So, the Emir sent intelligent people to trail the person who was going to collect this parcel of gifts.

Eventually, they identified him as the recipient of the gifts. He was invited by the Police on the order of the late Emir for questioning. “You can’t be a Muslim scholar and be collecting messages from the Pope. Do you work for him?” The Emir asked the leader of the Mai Tatsine but he failed to clear himself. That’s how the Emir banished him and sent him away to Sudan. That was around 1959.

In 1979, Abubakar Rimi of Kano felt Mai Tatsine could do this marabout thing for him to win election when he ran into crises with Aminu Kano and the Emir of Kano. So, he brought him back to Kano after winning the election to become the Governor. Marwa came back and continued with his assignment which eventually led to the offshoot of Matsine crises in 1980, and which was crushed by President Shagari.

The government set up an an investigative committee to look into the situation. Professor Dauda Ojobi was one of those witnesses who gave the evidence. It was proved that CAN was the one that organised the Matsine. The late Shagari felt that it will be too explosive to publicise that finding, so, he directed that the white paper should not be issued. That is why till date, CAN leaders cannot deny this claims because it was true. It really happened.

The twist of the story was that the father of Muhammad Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram, was killed with Muhammad Marwa Mai Tatsine in Kano. His grandfather ran away with him to the Northeast when they were apprehended. So, Boko Haram is an offshoot of the Matsine crises.

That’s why when the Boko Haram crisis started, the late Umaru Musa Yaradua had no time for nonsense. So, he went straight away to crush them. Muhammad Yusuf was arrested. And the corruption of Ali Modu Sheriff was that he had an alliance with Muhammad Yusuf and the Boko Haram. Back then, he created the ministry of religious affairs and made a Boko Haram member the commissioner, Alhaji Buji Foi. So, Muhammad Yusuf was killed according to the police on the order from the above, believed to be Modu Sheriff.

So, the commissioner for religious affairs went to find out what happened. Muhammad Yusuf was killed on the 29th of July 2009. The religious commissioner was later killed and his grandfather too was killed, that was between July and August 2009.

All the attacks by the Boko Haram has nothing to do with Islam

The Boko Haram are not Muslims. Let me tell you something. Christianity is not a religion. It was never meant to be a religion. The word is not in the Bible. So, when I said this, some people told me it is in the Qur’an. They said ‘Nasaarah’.

So, I went on to do a research. And this is a challenge to Muslim scholars. I had a rough time with Dr Ahmad Gumi. He said it is a religion. I said it is not.

The statement ‘Nasaarah’ here is not an Arabic word. We think it is an Arabic word. It is of Hebrew origin. So, Christianity was never a religion. You will see in my book that CAN is an offshoot of Ogboni secret society. Ogboni secret society was reformed on the 8th of December 1914, and became Reformed Ogboni Fraternity of the Christians. That is where CAN derived from.

They knew it. That was why when Agunyi Ironsi became Head of State, he banned Jama’t Nasri El Islamiy (JNI), but did not ban CAN. This is because he knew CAN was not a religious organisation. When Yakubu Gowon took over, he did the same thing.

Ending boko Haram and other acts of terrorism in Nigeria

Intelligence and security agencies should fish out who the sponsors are. They must go after the sponsors of Boko Haram and bring them to justice for several heinous crimes committed against humanity if they want an end to terrorism. They must be made to face the music. Terrorists will run out of financial support to procure weapons and vehicles among other logistics if their sponsors are blocked.

There is a principle of war called interdiction. When you are fighting an enemy, you prevent the enemy from getting any form of support. Now, assuming you are seated here as the leader of this family, then a hoodlum or terrorist comes out with a rifle and you killed him, two more come out with two rifles, you killed them also, then, four come out with four rifles and you killed them. What will be your concern? Who is giving them the rifles?

This is because you know these misguided youths don’t have money to buy rifles. They don’t know where it is bought. So, to stop this attack, you have to find out those sponsoring them with either the funds to buy the weapons or the gun dealers themselves. Those are the active sponsors of terrorism. They decide the target to be attacked and who to kidnap.

And the principle of terrorism is that you must separate the fish from water before you can catch it. If terrorists mix up with the populace, it will be hard to find them. So, you must separate the terrorists from the people. Also, the sponsors must be identified and blocked from providing arms and funding.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, Retired General Adeka and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Muslim News Nigeria.

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