Abuja - Nigeria has issued an international arrest warrant for a British-born army deserter it suspects plotted two bombings in the capital that killed at least 90 people, it said on Tuesday.
A reward of 25 million naira (about $150 000) was offered for information leading to the arrest of Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche and another man, Rufai Abubakar Tsiga, both suspected members of Boko Haram, the Islamist group that kidnapped 276 girls from their school last month.
“The national bureau of Interpol in the Nigerian police force has issued an international red alert for the search and arrest of Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche,” Mike Omeri, director general of the National Orientation Agency, part of the Ministry of Information, told a news conference.
Five Boko Haram militants have been arrested as suspects in the car bombings in Abuja's Nyanya suburb on April 14 and May 1, security officials said, and information they provided pointed to Ogwuche and Tsiga as masterminds.
Ogwuche, who served in the intelligence unit of the Nigerian army but deserted in 2006, was born in Britain and is currently in Sudan, Omeri said.
Ogwuche was arrested at Abuja airport in 2011 on arrival from Britain on suspected terrorism-related activities but was released to the care of his father, a retired army colonel, following protests from rights group, officials said.
An insurgency by Boko Haram, which is fighting to create an Islamist state in Nigeria's north-east, has killed thousands. - Reuters