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Tag: DSS

  • Boko Haram bomb maker ‘fails in bid to join army’

    Boko Haram bomb maker ‘fails in bid to join army’

    DSS arrests 21 suspects

    Boko Haram members are planning to infiltrate security agencies, it was learnt yesterday.

    Part of the plan is to insert an Improvised Explosives Devices specialist into the Army, the Department of State Security Services (DSS) said.

    In a statement issued by its spokesman Tony Opuiyo, the DSS disclosed the increasing desperation and sophistication of criminal elements, noting that about 21 suspected assasins, fraudsters, kidnappers and others have been picked up during various operations across the country.

    “In response to the regrouping of Boko Haram elements in Kano State, the Service in concert with the military, carried out coordinated operations in the State which led to the apprehension of two high profile members of the sect, namely Ibrahim Ustaz Abubakar and Idris Audu (aka A.Y.A.).

    “Audu is an IED specialist who was being groomed to penetrate security agencies in the country; Audu had already perfected plans to seek for recruitment into the next recruitment scheme of the Nigeria Army before his arrest.

    “ On 22nd August, 2016, one Samuel Asuquo, a kidnap kingpin was arrested by the Service at Nasarawa Bakoko village in Cross River State; Asuquo was the mastermind of the kidnap of three Australian staff of Lafarge Cement Company, for which his gang received ransom N150m.

    “Similarly, on 30th August, 2016, the trio of Bamaiyi Mustapha (aka Dan Borno), Aminu Isa and Hassan Shehu, members of a notorious kidnap gang operating around the Abuja-Kaduna axis, were arrested at Lafia, Nasarawa State.

    “The gang had earlier kidnapped five Igbo women and collected N13m as ransom; they were subsequently arrested by the Service while planning a high profile kidnap in Abuja.

    According to the DSS, a sacked embassy driver who was threatening the Ukrainian ambassador, was arrested for posing as the Accountant-General of the Federation. Two others who cloned the telephone number of the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, in a bid towards actualising high level fraud.

    ”This Service has arrested one Abbas Mohammed at Asokoro, Abuja; he was sending several threat messages to the Ukranian Ambassador to Nigeria.

    “Preliminary investigation revealed that Mohammed was formerly employed by the embassy as a driver but he began threatening his former employer after losing his job arising from observed gross acts of insubordination from him to his employers.

    “On the economic front, the DSS is currently intensifying action against high level fraudsters whose unwholesome activities is  negatively affecting investors’ confidence with multiplier risk to genuine  businesses nationwide.

    “Accordingly, one Izuagie Mohammed was arrested in Benin City, Edo State on 24th August, 2016, for impersonating the Accountant-General of the Federation. Mohammed had already defrauded unsuspecting members of the public, posing as the Nigerian AGF on Facebook and promising them facilitation of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) empowerment loan before he was apprehended by the Service.

    “In a further action, on 28th August, 2016, Taiye Alade and Ajoke Kolawole were also arrested by the Service at Fabian Hotel, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

    “The duo had cloned the GSM number of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (GMD NNPC), and were using it to defraud his close associates,” the DSS alleged.

    Assuring all law abiding citizens and residents that it will not rest on its oars in its determination to ensure a safe environment for all to carry out their legitimate business, the DSS stated that several other criminal suspects are now helping its investigations.

    “ In another operation carried out same day at Tamburawa village along Kano-Zaria Expressway, Kano State, Alhassan Musa and Ado Yusuf, members of a notorious kidnap/armed robbery syndicate operating from Falgore forest in Doguwa Local Government Area, Kano State, were also apprehended.

    “On 19th August, 2016, two kidnappers operating in Zamfara and its environs were arrested; they are Abdulrasheed Ibrahim and Aliyu Umar; the duo had been terrorising residents of the area along with a kidnap group headed by ‘Buhari General’ who is still at large.

    “Also, on 26th August, 2016, two (2) notorious kidnappers, armed robbers and assassins; Moses Achia and Fanen Igbetar, were arrested at Kperlegba Village, Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State.

    “One AK-47 rifle, five fully loaded AK-47 magazines, 150 rounds of live ammunition and one pistol loaded with 15 rounds of live ammunition were recovered from them. The syndicate had planned to kidnap a female business tycoon in Makurdi, Benue State.

    “On 3rd September 2016, a kidnapping gang under the coordination of one Sunny Isaac (late), which has been terrorising residents in states of the South-East zone, was busted by the Service at Aba in Abia State; prior to their arrest, the gang had masterminded series of kidnapping incidents in the state, including the abduction of one Uche Ikonne (female), an American citizen in the state.

    “Other members of the gang arrested by the Service include Nnaoma Amak, Chiedozie Ebere, Bartholomew Michael, Chinweotito Innocent and Celestine Ikarangwan while the following items were recovered on them during the time of arrest; N400,000.00, a double-barrel gun with two live ammunition, a Toyota-Corolla car, a Volkswagen Golf car, and the mobile cellphone of Ikonne.

    “Also, one Mike Ewugbara, a known child trafficker was arrested at Okigwe, Imo State on 26th August, 2016.

    “Three kidnapped children were rescued from his hideout, including one Miracle who was abducted in Benue State,” the DSS stated.

  • DSS smashes child-kidnapping syndicate

    DSS smashes child-kidnapping syndicate

    The Department of State Services (DSS) in Benue State yesterday paraded a gang of kidnappers and child traffickers operating between Makurdi and Otukpo in Benue, and Okigwe in Abia State.

    Those paraded were Adejo Ogiri, said to be its anchor man in Benue; Michael Uzochukwu Ezekiel; Afonne Edward Nwokocha; Henry Ndukwe and Ifeanyi Sunday Isaac.

    Some of the children kidnapped are Emmanuel Ogochukwu Abedi, Favour Chijioke Oleka, James Ochoyama Adanu and Joseph Abode.

    Handing some of the children over to their parents, Governor Samuel Ortom said the success of the stick approach of the amnesty programme was a manifestation of his administration’s commitment to security.

    He said Benue is not a place for criminals, stressing that those who refuse to embrace peace and are involved in kidnapping, child trafficking, robbery and cultism will be apprehended and brought to justice.

    The governor urged the people to assist security agencies with information to enable them perform effectively.

  • There’ll be tragedy if Zakzaky dies in DSS custody -Shi’ites

    There’ll be tragedy if Zakzaky dies in DSS custody -Shi’ites

    The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shi’ites, on Wednesday warned that there will be monumental tragedy if its leader, Sheik Ibrahim Zakzaky, who has since December 2015 been in detention dies in government custody.

    The movement in a statement signed by its Spokesman, Ibrahim Musa in Kaduna Wednesday also dismissed two lawyers, Sadau Garba and Bello Ibrahim allegedly standing for Zakzaky before Department of State Services (DSS) as impostors.

    According to the statement, “We demand that our Leader and the wife must be released unconditionally without delay.

    “It will be a tragedy of monumental proportions should our leader go blind in detention or suffer further physical disability due to him being denied access to adequate medical attention,” the movement said without giving details.

     “We understand those that sanctioned his detention and those detaining him want to humiliate him and make sure that he goes completely blind before he is eventually released thereby rendering him powerless the moment he is released from unconstitutional and illegal detention.

    “The health of our leader and the wife continues to deteriorate on a daily basis and those holding him in custody are playing politics with his detention and that of his wife.

    “We urge the Nigerian people and the international community to intervene in this crude violation of the fundamental rights of our leader,” the IMN said.

    On the lawyers, IMN said, “The Islamic Movement in Nigeria wants to make it clear that the said Sadau Garba and Bello Ibrahim can only be solicitors to the Department of State Services, with who they are in constant contact, and not that of the Movement or our revered leader. It is the Department of State Services that briefed the two and are giving them access to their facilities and encouraging them to pose as solicitors to our revered leader and urging them to write letters begging the Department to release our leader on compassionate grounds.

    “On the basis of this dubious alliance the Department has been giving the two unrestricted access and have been sending out dubious feelers that they will release our revered leader to the family the moment they are begged by the two to do so.

    “We recall that the said Sadau Garba has in the past attempted to swerve the course of the case involving Sheikh’s fundamental rights by claiming that that Sheikh told him that the DSS should be excluded from the matter as one of the respondents in the case which turned out to be contrived by those that briefed him,” said the IMN.

    It went on: “We want to make it abundantly clear that that the said Sadau Garba and Bello Ibrahim are not solicitors to the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and have not been briefed by our leader to represent him in any of the cases pending in court.

    “The said Sadau Garba and Bello Ibrahim are acting a script carefully contrived by those holding our revered leader and their claim to being our solicitors and that of our leader is baffling, erroneous, and mischievous and amounts to professional misconduct.

    “The two solicitors have been set up by the enemies of the Movement to give the impression that there is doubt as regards the true solicitors of the Movement and Shaikh and further prolong the detention of our leader.

    “The Islamic Movement in Nigeria therefore makes it abundantly clear that Femi Falana, SAN is the leader of the Legal Team and ably assisted by Festus Okoye Esq and Maxwell Kyon Esq,” the IMN posited.

  • DSS arrests Boko Haram suspects

    DSS arrests Boko Haram suspects

    The Department of State Service (DSS) yesterday said it has made progress in its ongoing tactical and counter-terrorism operations to degrade the capabilities of criminal gangs and syndicates across the country.

    In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Tony Opuiyo, the DSS said it arrested one Aikhoje Moses on August 19, 2016, at Azagha by-pass off Benin-Asaba Expressway in Edo state. Moses was accused of sending threat messages to the diplomatic community in Nigeria especially to the Consular-Generals of Switzerland and Denmark and their embassies.

    The Service also arrested one Mudaisiru Jibrin at Sauna quarters in Kano. He  was alleged to be the spiritual leader of a newly uncovered Boko Haram cell in Kano.  Preliminary investigation by the DSS also revealed that he was also the mastermind of the shooting of some students at Government Secondary School (GSS), Mamudo village near Potiskum, Yobe State, in 2013.

    The DSS made other arrests. ukhtar Tijani, a suspected Boko Haram fighter and three of his accomplices – Isiaku Salihu, Abdullahi Isah and Hindu Isah – were arrested. The four suspects, who were arrested at Kinkinau in Kaduna metropolis, were said to be planning for major coordinated attacks at selected targets and locations in Kaduna. The Service also apprehended three members of the Ansaru terrorist group in Auchi, Edo State, who it said were planning to launch attacks.

    Terfa Jirgba and two  others – Terzungee Kwaghaondo and Mathias Aende – were arrested at Badagry Street off Esther Aka Road in Makurdi, Benue State. Jirgba is alleged to be an active ally and gang member of Terwase Agwaza, a notorious kidnapper who runs a kidnapping and criminal network in Benue State.

    In a follow-up operation, one Terungwa Abur was apprehended on 16th August, 2016 in Port-Harcourt. Abur is said to be the second- in-command to Agwaza and a key member of the kidnapping gang. The DSS said Abur acts as a courier for the underworld gang and was the negotiator of the Four Million Naira (N4, 000,000.00) ransom paid to the gang for the release of two Indians, who are officials of Dangote Cement Company. They were kidnapped on 29th July, 2016, in Markudi city. He was also said to have participated in the killing of one Ortin in Gboko Township on 1st August, 2016.

    The DSS also arrested a group of criminals who kidnapped Senator Patrick Ani on July 6,2016, in Cross River State. The suspects are:  Benjamin Emomotemi, Gabriel Ambrose, Godbless Taliboth Mattias, Blessing Sunday, Edet Effiong Asanagasi and Rose Williams.

     

     

  • Wike berates Police for being partisan

    Wike berates Police for being partisan

    • Calls on NBA to serve as the conscience of the nation

    The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has berated the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) for being partisan and taking sides in an internal party squabble by deciding to execute an interim injunction on the PDP National Convention when there was a judgment directing the Police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to provide security for the August 17, PDP National Convention.

    The Governor made this known at the opening ceremony of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference on Sunday Night, observing that there was no reason for the police to have resolved to execute the interim order of Justice Okon Abang in a suit where it was not a party, neither was it served with the order delivered late in the evening of Tuesday, 16th August, 2016.

    He described the action of the police as scandalous and undemocratic, saying that there is no explanation for what they did to the PDP because they were allegedly obeying orders from above.

    In a statement signed by Simeon Nwakaudu, Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media, the governor said:  “The Honorable Justice Okon Abang sat until about 1700 hours, took a short break, and delivered his controversial judgment at about 1800 hours. At which time the Convention venue had already been sealed by a large contingent of security personnel personally led by the Rivers State Commissioner of Police (CP) and the State Director of the Department of State Security (SDDSS).  The question is: when was the enrolled order prepared, vetted, signed, served and or transmitted to the Police in Port Harcourt for enforcement in a matter in which they were never sued or joined as parties?

    “And because a PDP convention must be prevented from holding, the lives and property of Rivers people became inconsequential in the reckoning of the CP and the SDDSS.

    “That was why in their desperation to enforce an insidious “order from above” they threw caution to the wind, and against every sense of rationality, mobilized the entire fleet of Armored Personnel Carriers and other operational vehicles from other parts of the State to the Port Harcourt Civic Centre just to prevent a harmless party meeting from holding, and in the process left an entire State literally exposed and vulnerable to the mercy of criminals. For us, there is nothing surprising about the treacherous actions of the CP, the SDDSS and their collaborators.”

    Governor Wike said that as far as Rivers State is concerned, the Federal authorities only consider partisan interests when issues of security are on the table. He said that as such, Federal Security Agencies regularly transfer senior security officers with partisan consideration in mind.

    According to Governor Wike, “in Rivers State, politics and partisan considerations now determine the posting of senior security officers to the State. In particular, having signed-in onto the unholy conspiracy to undermine our administration, the Security High Command in Abuja prefers to make deployments that are intended to shore up the political fortunes of a degraded political opposition at the expense of providing effective security cover to the State and its people.”

  • DSS arrests Bayelsa monarch

    The Department of State Security (DSS) on Tuesday arrested a traditional ruler of Agrisaba community in Nembe local government area of Bayelsa State, King Walter Agiri, over boundary dispute between Agrisaba and Oluasiri in the council.

    The Bayelsa Renaissance Movement (BRM) on Tuesday commended DSS for taking the bold step to arrest the monarch as part of efforts to find lasting solution to the problem.

    The king was arrested by DSS operatives  in Yenagoa and whisked away to the command’s headquarters for interrogation.

    BRM in a statement signed by its Coordinator, Mr. Rondson Irokari, faulted the claims by some Agrisaba elders that the monarch was nabbed following a protest against the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in the community.

    Irokari said an independent investigation by the group revealed that the DSS arrested the monarch following security breaches in the area.

  • Court orders DSS to release suspect

    Court orders DSS to release suspect

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Directorate of State Services (DSS) to release a former militant, Mr. Selky Torughedi.

    He has been in detention since June 17.

    Justice Nnamdi Dimgba issued the order  while ruling on an application filed by counsel to the applicant, Mr. Emeka Uchegbulam.

    Torughedi went to the court to enforce his rights under Sections 34, 35, 36 and 41 of the 1999 constitution.

    Justice Dimgba held that the DSS erred to have detained Torughedi for such a lengthy period without any evidence of culpability.

    According to him, the explanations given by the DSS were speculative. He noted that the justification offered for the continuous  incarceration of the suspect were bereft of any evidence.

    The DSS had arrested Torughedi in Calabar and detained him at its headquarters in Abuja.

    The DSS thereafter deposed to an affidavit before the court, alleging that Torughedi is a high-ranking member and sponsor of the Niger Delta Avengers and that he was arrested for his involvement in militancy, terrorism, kidnapping, blowing up of pipelines and planned to assassinate some top government officials.

    The DSS told the court that it would be improper to grant him freedom as he is a threat to security.

    But Justice Dimgba held that the court could only act on the basis of credible evidence and therefore overruled the DSS.

    According to him,  the DSS  has  not provided the court with enough  proof to back its claims, adding that such proof could have been in the form of a call log from communication companies showing discussions which the suspect has had with militant members plotting the nefarious activities which the DSS alleged him to be involved in.

    The trial judge further held that ”any incarceration that was not backed by order of a competent court is illegal, unconstitutional and must be shot down by the court, being the guardian of those sacred rights secured by the constitution”.

  • Court rejects DSS application over non-compliance with orders

    The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday said it will not grant any application filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) until all orders of the court are obeyed.

    A vacation judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, stated this when the DSS Counsel, GOA Agbadua, brought an application for a remand warrant, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    Dimgba said it would be wrong for the court to grant an application filed by the DSS when the agency has no regard for court orders.

    The judge said he had ordered that Air Commodore Umar Mohammed (rtd), who was arraigned before him, to be remanded in Kuje Prison, pending the hearing of his bail application.

    “But the DSS decided to keep him in its custody against the order of the court,’’ he said.

    Dimgba also cited another instance when he ordered the service to produce some accused persons in court but noted that the DSS had yet to comply with the directive.

    “The court will not grant any application of the DSS until there is sufficient proof that all orders of the court have been obeyed.

    “It will be counter-productive for the court to take this application and grant the reliefs sought by the DSS.

    “This court hereby adjourns this application sine die until the applicant’s counsel files an affidavit deposing to the fact that all outstanding orders of this court on the DSS have been complied with,’’ the judge added.

     

  • Activist to DSS: arraign alleged militant journalist now

    Niger Delta rights activist, Mr. Alagoa Morris, yesterday, asked the Department of State Services (DSS) to arraign an alleged militant and journalist, Mr. Jones Abiri, to enable him defend himself instead of keeping him in its dungeon.

    Abiri, the publisher of Weekly Source newspaper, a Bayelsa State local tabloid, was arrested by DSS on July 21 for allegedly being a notorious militant leader.

    DSS in a statement signed by its spokesman, Tony Opuiyo, accused Abiri of operating under a pseudo name ‘General’ Akotebe Darikoro and leading the Joint Niger Delta Revolutionary Council (JNDRC), a militant group which created fear with its threats to release six missiles in the region.

    The service further said Abiri was the brains behind the claims that the military was planning to overthrow President Muhammadu Buhari through coup d’état.

    But Morris, a former Secretary of the Bayelsa chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), in a statement in Yenagoa on Saturday,  said he knew Abiri for over 20 years and that he never struck him as a criminal or militant or belonging to any terrorist organisation.

    The Bayelsa State Coordinator, Environmental Right Action (ERA), said: “The concern here is, yes, what the DSS fed the public via the purported press statement might be true, but it might also be false.

    “And, in line with the rule of law, if the state has found Abiri culpable of any of the alleged crimes, what the human rights community ordinarily expects from the authorities is to charge him to a court of competent jurisdiction.

    “The Executive cannot do both interpretation of the law and execution at the same time. It is believed that Nigeria has advanced to the extent that persons accused of such crimes as alleged, should appear in court within 48 hours of arrest.

    “While the DSS might have applied professionalism in obtaining the alleged confession from the accused, some are concerned and worried that such confessions might have been obtained under duress/torture.

    “And we are aware that obtaining evidence via torture is not allowed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria [1999], the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and People’s Right.

    “This is the more reason such suspects should be presented in court as soon as possible; as all accused persons (no matter the crime) are entitled to fair hearing by the law.”

    Morris argued that all accused persons are deemed innocent until proved guilty in a court of competent jurisdiction and insisted that Abiri’s case should not be an exception.

  • Budget padding: DSS seals Reps Appropriation Committee Secretariat

    Budget padding: DSS seals Reps Appropriation Committee Secretariat

    The secretariat of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation is now a no go area.

    The office, located  in Room 16,White House at the National Assembly Complex ,was sealed off yesterday by security men as claims and counter claims  intensified  over alleged padding of the  2016 budget by principal officers of the Green Chamber of the NASS.

    Staff and members of the committee were denied access to the office by a team of four security men said to be from the Department of State Security (DSS).

    The DSS is the latest of the security agencies after the Police to wade into the controversy over padding of the 2016 budget by the House.

    Sacked chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, sparked the controversy when he alleged that he was fired by Speaker Yakubu Dogara because he refused his bidding and that of Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun; Majority Whip Alhassan Doguwa; and Minority Whip Leo Ogor  to pad the budget to the tune of N40b.

    Dogara and the rest have denied the allegation, saying it was Jibrin that padded the budget, hence his removal as committee chair.

    They wondered why he kept quiet until his sack before making his allegations.

    The sealing of the committee office yesterday came on the heels of allegation by Jibrin that Dogara stormed there and removed computers and some other materials for the purpose of stalling investigation.

    Jibrin reportedly visited the SSS Headquarters on Friday to brief the agency about the budget padding scandal rocking the House.

    He also asked EFCC and ICPC to commence investigation into the crisis with a view to prosecuting those involved.

    The new chairman of the Appropriation Committee, Mustapha Dawaki (APC, Kano), however, told reporters yesterday that there was no such thing.

    Dawaki, reading from a July 29, 2016 letter from the Clerk of the Committee, Abel Ochigbo, to the acting Clerk, House of Representatives and the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, said: “The Secretariat is intact and has not been threatened anyway. All records are also intact and safe – both software and hardware.

    “In addition, no staff in the secretariat of the committee has been subjected to any form of threat, intimidation or harassment from any quarter whatsoever.”

    Contrary to Dawaki’s claim, however, Ochigbo and his staff were denied entry into the office by the security men.

    When the Clerk sought to know why he could not enter his office, the security men told him to seek an answer from ‘above’.

    Ochigbo then left in frustration only to return to ask on whose instructions the security men were acting.

    Dawaki, at his press conference, declined to answer any question on the allegation that nine members of the Appropriation committee were bribed by Speaker Dogara to disparage Jibrin.

    Deputy Chief of Staff to the Speaker, Mr. C.I. D Maduabum who was named by Jibrin as having shared the $20000, had earlier on Friday dismissed the allegation as a lie.

    Some vested interests are apparently cashing in on the development to divide the House.

    A member who pleaded anonymity yesterday accused Dogara of coercing some members into supporting him in the crisis.

    The source said the plan of the Speaker was to divide the House by sending hate-inducing text messages to members.

    He forwarded  to reporters a text message said to have emanated from Dogara’s camp which said: “Plot to destabilize the leadership of the House of Reps has taken a new dimension as the AGF working with Gbajabiamila, Jibrin & SGF has drafted charges to arraign & detain principal officers of the House so that the transparency group who recently met with Tinubu’s wife will effect a leadership change with Gbajabiamila as Speaker & Jibrin as Deputy.

    “This is why Jibrin did not mention Femi in his allegations. The 8th House won’t be anybody’s rubber stamp. We will resist them like the Senate resisted them.”

    The source said the message was to turn members against Jibrin and those mentioned in the text.

    He said:”This intention is to malign those accused in the text so that members would see them as enemies.

    “They want to turn us against one another , especially those seen as belonging to Transparency Group and even against the leadership of the party.

    “What have those not in the National Assembly that were mentioned got to do with this fight?

    “We are searching to reposition the country. These allegations are coming out from within us, yet they want us to believe that they are coming from outside.

    “Isn’t that absurd?

    “We will not allow it. God has revealed this and it is up to us to help ourselves by standing for the truth.”

    Also yesterday, a group National Youth Council of Nigeria petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the alleged padding of the 2014 budget with about N418m worth of contracts by Abdulmumin Jibrin.

    The petitioners said that Jibrin, while serving as House Committee Chairman on Finance, padded the budget with projects domiciled under the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons and other agencies.