Nigerian senator arraingned over links to Boko Haram

ABUJA Nigerian authorities charged a senator on Tuesday over suspected links to a man accused of being a spokesman for Islamist sect Boko Haram, blamed for attacks including the bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja.
Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume was charged in magistrate's court alongside the alleged spokesman, Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, with breaching public trust and criminal intimidation.
The charges claim that between September 15 and November 3 in the cities of Maiduguri and Abuja, "Mohammed Ali Ndume and Ali Sanda Umar Konduga did conspire to commit" the alleged crimes.
Ndume, a senator from Borno state in the country's northeast, where most of Boko Haram's attacks have occurred, pleaded not guilty. Konduga pleaded guilty and is to be sentenced at a later date.
The case was adjourned until December 6.
The senator is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, which dominates national politics but is not in power in Borno state.
He also served on a presidential committee that sought earlier this year to determine whether dialogue was possible with Boko Haram.
 It was unclear whether Konduga, the alleged spokesman, had reached a deal with authorities. Secret police announced his November 3 arrest only on Monday and said he confessed to various crimes as well as his links to politicians.
"His arrest further confirms the Service (police) position that some of the Boko Haram extremists have political patronage and sponsorship," secret police spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar said on Monday, referring to Konduga's arrest.
Speculation has been rife over political links to at least certain factions of Boko Haram, which has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks, including an August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja which killed at least 24 people.
Such speculation has pointed to explanations ranging from local politics in Borno state to opposition to President Goodluck Jonathan in the mainly Muslim north.
There has also been intense speculation, particularly among Western nations, over whether the group has formed links with outside extremist groups, including Al-Qaeda's north African branch (AQIM).
Boko Haram is believed to have various factions with a number of different aims, and the alleged confessions of Konduga seemed to involve mainly local politics.
Authorities claim that Konduga was the Boko Haram spokesman quoted in the news media under the alias Usman al-Zawahiri.
The secret police statement claimed that Konduga was "a former political thug," referring to the practice of Nigerian politicians of recruiting or forming local gangs to help rig elections.
 The statement said one benefactor promised to pay him 10 million naira ($60,000, 45,000 euros) to work for his party, but then died on his way to deliver half the sum to Konduga.
Konduga allegedly confessed that a member of Nigeria's National Assembly then took over the running of his activities. The statement did not name the person.
The statement also claimed that Konduga was behind threatening text messages sent to election tribunal judges with the aim of having the government in Borno state tossed out.
 Other threats were made to politicians including former president Olusegun Obasanjo, it said.
It claimed that Konduga told security agents that threatening messages sent to the chairman of an election petition tribunal in Borno state "were scripted and relayed to him by the National Assembly member."