PLOT TO ASSASSINATE SAUDI AMBASSADOR TO NIGERIA UNCOVERED

A Lebanese suspect with alleged links to Hezbollah and on trial in Nigeria for
terrorism offences told a court on Friday he was aware of a plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s
ambassador to Abuja.
The alleged plot, which had not previously been made public, came up during questioning of
the defendant during the trial of him and two other Lebanese in high court in the Nigerian
capital.
The defendant, Talal Ahmad Roda, alleged that another man who is at large was behind a plot
to assassinate the ambassador. The man was identifed as Abdulhassan Tahir.
Asked by prosecutor Samuel Edege whether he was aware of the alleged plan, he said “yes”
but did not know other details. Questioning then moved on to other subjects.
It was not clear whether anyone sought to put the alleged plot into action or which Saudi
ambassador had been targeted for assassination since a name was not provided. The motive
for the alleged plot was also not described.
An official at Saudi Arabia’s embassy who did not want his name used said it was unaware of
the alleged plot.
“We don’t have any information about this story,” the official said. “We just heard it from you.”
The three men on trial are accused of plotting attacks against Israeli and Western targets in
Nigeria as well as having links to Lebanese Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah.
They were charged in June after authorities discovered a cache of arms at a business in Abuja
and a private home in the northern city of Kano.
Nigeria is grappling with a deadly Islamist insurgency waged by Boko Haram, but there has
been no suggestion of any ties between the Lebanese accused and the Nigerian extremist
group.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is home to a sizeable Lebanese population, including
in the mainly Muslim north.