by Kolapo Olapoju

Mohammed Zakari, the self proclaimed “Chief Butcher” of Boko Haram who was recently captured, says he has slaughtered five persons since he joined the Islamic sect in 2012.

30-year-old Zakari said it takes him two minutes to slaughter a person, while other members of his gang would tie the victims.

He spoke to journalists at a police detention facility in Abuja on Wednesday, 6 August, while also confessing that he belonged to a five-man team whose specialty is ‘slaughtering human beings.

Zakari, speaking through an interpreter, exposed and named the other members of the his team, “Hassan, Garba, Mohammed and Isa,” who are currently at large.

He said, “My real name is Mohammed Zakari, I am also known as Hardu. I am 30-years-old. I hail from Bauchi. My duty is to slaughter human beings; the duty of the others is to tie the victims whenever we get one. I have slaughtered five persons. It takes me only two minutes to slaughter a victim after being tied by other members of the gang.”

The police, however, alleged that he had participated in the slaughter of seven people, including women and children.

Zakari was paraded before journalists by the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, after a widespread media report that he had escaped from custody.

Mba said, “There has been a very strong rumour that the suspect, Zakari, had escaped from custody. It is primarily in response to that (rumour) that we have decided to bring the suspect out to interact with journalists.”

Kolapo Olapoju