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Tag: DSS

  • Army, DSS, police chiefs sued over N6.5m ‘theft’

    The Federal High Court in Abuja has been asked to direct the Chief of Army Staff, Director of the Drectorate of Security Service (DSS) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to probe and identify members of a joint patrol team that allegedly robbed two businessmen of about N6.5million in Abuja on September 13.

    The request is contained in a fundamental rights enforcement application marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/676/2014 filed last Wednesday for the victims – Abubakar Musa and Ajube Kumshe – by their lawyer, Kalouma Umar.

    The applicants, who are seeking N15million damages against the respondents, also want the court to order the Director, SSS to refund the N6.5m allegedly stolen from them by the joint patrol team made of mainly of men of the SSS, the police and army. Respondents in the suit include the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Chief of Army Staff, Director, SSS, the IGP and Ebonith Hotel, Lugbe, Abuja.

    Musa, who described himself as a metallurgist, said he had travelled, with Kumshe on a car from their base in Jos to Abuja on September 12 to conduct some business transactions the next day. He said he withdrew the N6.5million from his account in the Suleja (Niger State) branch of Ecobank on September 12 for the business transactions.

    He averred, in a supporting affidavit, that after withdrawing the money and visiting some of his police friends, they lodged in the Ebonith Hotel, Lugbe, Abuja preparatory to their business transactions the next day.

    Musa stated that about 1.30 am on September 13, “a joint team of security operatives comprising men of the Nigerian Army, the SSS and the Nigeria Police Force” stormed the hotel searched their rooms and confiscated the N6.5million he had withdrawn and kept  with him for the next day’s business transactions.

    “They arrested us and took us out of the room together with the money to the reception of the 5th respondent (the hotel). They counted the money and confirmed the amount of the money as N6.5million. They took us to the Lugbe Police Station and detained us for three hours for interrogation, without informing us about the offence we committed,” Musa said.

    He further stated that they were released about five hours later, but that they changed their plans and decided to return to Jos. He said on their way back to Jos,  their car was ambushed along Keffi-Abuja Road by the same joint patrol team, led by one Sadiq.

    Musa stated that the security men later robbed them at gun point, taking away the N6.5m kept in his car boot, N100,000 found in his pocket and N57,000 found with his co-traveller, Kumshe.

    “He (Sadiq) informed me that they were tracking all my phone calls  and had put me on surveillance for long, and that there is no way I can escape from them. When I asked him (Sadiq) what offence I committed, he hit me with his pistol and ordered me to enter into a nearby bush,” Musa said.

    He added that, while the team was leading them into a nearby bus, they heard the noise of an approaching siren and hurriedly abandoned them, but went away with their (applicants’) money.

    Musa, who accused the 2nd to 3rd respondents (Army, SSS and Police authorities) of not responding to his letters seeking investigation of the case, said he could identify members of the patrol team, particularly Sadiq, if they were paraded before him.

    The applicants, who also want the court to order the 3rd respondent (SSS) to refund the N6.5million, are seeking to restrain the respondents from arresting and detaining them. They also urged the court to declare their detention at the Lugbe Police Station as illegal and an abuse of their fundamental rights.

    No date is set for the case’s hearing, and the respondents are yet to file their responses.

  • South Africa seizes $9.3m from two Nigerians, Israeli

    South Africa seizes $9.3m from two Nigerians, Israeli

    Presidency demands report from military attache in Pretoria

    The Presidency has demanded a status report from Nigeria’s military attaché at the High Commission in Pretoria, following a report that two Nigerians and an Israeli smuggled $9.3 million into South Africa.

    Some intelligence agencies were trading blames last night because they were kept in the dark on the deal.

    They queried why the National Intelligence Agency(NIA) was not asked to liaise with its counterpart in South Africa to prevent such a national embarrassment.

    A top official of the Department of State Security (DSS) said the “deal had nothing to do with our agency”.

    According to a source, who spoke in confidence, the Presidency is exploring diplomatic channels  to get the details of the $9.3m deal that may have gone awry.

    The source said: “The Presidency is aware of the arrest and ongoing investigation of the deal and it has asked for a status report from our military attaché and High Commission in South Africa.

    “It is when we get the preliminary report that the Federal Government will be able to react to the development.

    “Diplomatic interactions are ongoing to get to the root of the case being investigated by South Africa. The good dimension to the investigation is that it is South Africa that has opened the lid. It means it is beyond what anyone can hide if it is true.”

    Another source said: “For instance, the report was talking of Nigerian Intelligence Service whereas some agencies, like the DSS and NIA,  have said that they had nothing to do with the deal.

    “Such purchase of arms ought to put the NIA in the picture. It will be the duty of the NIA to liaise with its counterpart in South Africa if it would involve cash movement.

    “Even within the intelligence agencies, issues are being raised on why electronic transfer was not adopted by the team-in line with the nation’s cashless policy.

    “It is actually faster paying the suppliers of the arms through e- payment than cash movement.”

    As at press time, no government official or agency was willing to identify those involved in the deal.

    In South African, the police are investigating the two Nigerians and an Israeli citizen, who were said to be coming from Abuja. They were not identified, according to a report by Reuters.

    The plane, a Bombardier Challenger 600, had a Nigerian flight crew on board. It was piloted by Captain Tunde Ojongbede, according to City Press.

    Adrian Lackay, spokesperson for the SA Revenue Service (Sars), confirmed that customs officers became suspicious when the passengers’ luggage was unloaded and put through the scanners just after 7pm. The officers then investigated and found three suitcases full of cash.

    The passengers apparently told officials they were acting on behalf of the Nigerian intelligence service.

    They provided documentation confirming they had come to South Africa to buy weapons. It is not clear whether the Israeli passenger was an intelligence operative or an arms dealer.

    The National Conventional Arms Control Committee, which has to approve the import and export of any weapons as well as issue permits for such transactions, was not aware of any applications in this case.

    The South African Revenue Service (SARS) seized the funds at Lanseria airport, northwest of Johannesburg, on September 5. The funds are being held at the central bank as police investigate, SARS spokeswoman Marika Muller said.

    “The passengers’ luggage was searched after Customs officials detected irregularities. The money was detained as it was undisclosed/undeclared and above the prescribed legal limit,” Muller said in a statement.

    South Africa’s City Press newspaper reported that bundles of unused $100 bills packed in three suitcase were transported in a small business jet from the Nigerian capital, Abuja. The three passengers said they were using it to buy arms for the Nigerian security services, City Press said.

    South African airport security spokesman Solomon Makgale confirmed a police investigation was underway but declined to give details. The aircraft was temporarily impounded, but was allowed to return to Abuja on Monday morning.

    According to unconfirmed reports, one of the passengers was arrested. Further investigation revealed that the aircraft used to belong to the American healthcare company Kimberly-Clark. But company spokesperson Bob Brand said the firm had sold the plane years ago, and denied that it had anything to do with the incident. According to the US Federal Aviation Administration aeroplane register, the Challenger, with the registration number N808HG, was reregistered in the name of Bank of Utah Trustee last year. The address in the register was given as Salt Lake City, US.

    Aviation industry insiders claim similar “owners” have previously been involved in several controversial aircraft financing transactions for aircraft in Africa. City Press has also established that the aircraft is used by an entity called Swat Inc in Abuja, but no details of such a company could be found.

    Another plane used by Swat Inc, a Hawker Siddeley 125, also with an American registration number (N497AG), landed at Lanseria Airport last month. That plane and its passengers remained in the country for two days before returning to Abuja on August 13.

     

  • Soyinka to Jonathan: Bring back our honour

    Soyinka to Jonathan: Bring back our honour

    •Calls for international probe of Sheriff, Ihejirika

    Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, yesterday called for an international panel to probe all allegations made by the Australian negotiator, Reverend Stephen Davis about   suspected sponsors of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram in Nigeria.

    The status or office of any accused should not matter in the probe, he said in a statement on the state of the nation.

    Davies, who recently met with Boko Haram leaders in the course of negotiating for the release of the over 200 school girls abducted by Boko Haram in Borno State, had insinuated that former Governor  Ali Modu Sheriff  and the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika were backing the sect.

    The duo separately  denied the allegation, with the Department of State Security (DSS) categorically exonerating  Ihejirika from any involvement with Boko Haram.

    It, however, said it was investigating Sheriff who, a few days later, was on the entourage of President Goodluck Jonathan in Chad.

    The presidency claimed, in reaction to criticism, that Sheriff was not on the entourage and that he was merely in Chad on a private visit and only went to the Ndjamena Airport to receive the president.

    Soyinka, in his statement entitled ‘The Wages of Impunity’, vouched for Davis’ integrity, having worked with him on the Niger Delta crisis in the past.

    “As I revealed in earlier statements, I have interacted with the late National Security Adviser, General Azazi, on occasion – among others.  I am therefore compelled to warn that anything that Stephen Davis claims to have uncovered cannot be dismissed out of hand.  It cannot be wished away by foul-mouthed abuse and cheap attempts to impugn his integrity – that is an absolute waste of time and effort,” he said.

    He said the evidence against Sheriff is overwhelming and threw his weight behind Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), and civic organisations to “go ahead and invoke the legal recourses available to him to force Sheriff’s prosecution.”

    He added: “The evidence in possession of security agencies – plus a number of diplomats in Nigeria – is overwhelming, and all that is left is to let the man face criminal persecution. It is certain he will also take many others down with him.

    “Regarding General Ihejirika, I have my own theories regarding how he may have come under Stephen Davis’ searchlight in the first place, ending up on his list of the inculpated. All I shall propose at this stage is that an international panel be set up to examine all allegations, irrespective of status or office of any accused.”

    Soyinka deplored last week’s mimicking of the hashtag –BRING BACK OUR GIRLS – by President Jonathan’s supporters who erected BRINK BACK JONATHAN 2015 giant billboards in strategic parts of Abuja.

    The president ordered their removal in the face of severe criticism from home and abroad but an unimpressed Soyinka said yesterday that the damage has already been done and “the rot in a nation’s collective soul bared to the world.

    “The very possibility of such a desecration took the Nigerian nation several notches down in human regard. It confirmed the very worst of what external observers have concluded and despaired of  – a culture of civic callousness, a coarsening of sensibilities and, a general human disregard.

    “It affirmed the acceptance, even domination of lurid practices where children are often victims of unconscionable abuses including ritual sacrifices, sexual enslavement, and worse.  Spurred by electoral desperation, a bunch of self-seeking morons and sycophants chose to plumb the abyss of self-degradation and drag the nation down to their level.  It took us to a hitherto unprecedented low in ethical degeneration.  The bets were placed on whose turn would it be to take the next potshots at innocent youths in captivity whose society and governance have failed them and blighted their existence?”

    He would not buy the explanation offered by the Presidency on the presence of Sheriff at the Ndjamena meeting between President Jonathan and his host, President Idris Deby, and posed the following questions:

    How come it that a suspected affiliate of a deadly criminal gang, publicly under such ominous cloud, had the confidence to smuggle himself into the welcoming committee of another nation, and even appear in audience, to all appearance a co-host with the president of that nation?

    Where does the confidence arise in him that Jonathan would not snub him openly or, after the initial shock, pull his counterpart, his official host aside and say to him, “Listen, it’s him, or me.”?

    He said: “In the meantime however, as we twiddle our thumbs, wondering when and how this nightmare will end, and time rapidly runs out, I have only one admonition for the man to whom so much has been given, but who is now caught in the depressing spiral of diminishing returns: “Bring Back Our Honour.”

  • DSS: it’s wicked to associate ex-Army chief with sect

    DSS: it’s wicked to associate ex-Army chief with sect

    The Department of State Security has risen in defence of the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika (rtd), saying it’s uncharitable and wicked for anyone to associate him with sponsorship of the Boko Haram insurgency.

    Spokesperson of the DSS, Ms. Marilyn Ogar, who addressed journalists at the Service’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday, also said the former Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff has been invited for questioning.

    An Australian hostage negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, had, in a cable media interview last week, fingered Ihejirika and Sheriff as some of the major sponsors of Boko Haram.

    Dr. Davis was hired by President Goodluck Jonathan to help negotiate the release of the over 200 Chibok school girls abducted by Boko Haram since April 14. The girls are still in the sect’s captivity.

    Ms. Ogar said: ” I want to say here that it is absolutely uncharitable for us as Nigerians to reward somebody who laid down his life in pursuing the same people.

    “For us to accept that he is associated with the same sect whose activities he, together with this Service, succeeded in bringing the activities of the sect to a halt in Kano, Okene and other places; pursuing them down to the Sambisa Forest.

    “And to accept that the same man was sponsoring Boko Haram is wicked and uncharitable. We should not allow people to use our liberal nature to perpetrate all sort of evils in our society”.

    On ex Governor Sheriff, Ogar said: “He had been invited here twice in the past. The Service has invited him again. There is nothing that this service has done in investigation in the past that we have not informed the public”.

    Ogar, however, did not state the time and date that the ex Governor is being expected.

    The DSS similarly picked holes in Davis’ statements, as they relate to the relationship between an unnamed Central Bank of Nigeria official and three of the suspects in the April 14 Nyanya blast.

    Davis had stated: “The CBN official who handles the funding is an uncle to three of those arrested in connection with the Nyanya bombings. The boys lived with him.

    “They were arrested by the SSS after the bombings but they do not seem to have interrogated about their uncle in CBN. Or if they have given up information about their uncle then the SSS has not moved against them”.

    But Ogar said none of the six suspects being held by the Service is related to another by blood.

    “In other words, none is a cousin or nephew to any other, and only two of the suspects, namely Yau Saidu and Ana’s Isah have ever lived together at the makeshift clinic called Kishi Clinic; operated by Rufai Abubakar Tsiga, a co-mastermind of the bomb blast who is still at large”, she stated.

    Although they had already been paraded in July, Ogar, again, paraded the six Nyanya bombing suspects who all denied relationship, blood or otherwise, with the unnamed CBN official.

    According to her, the Australian negotiator did not source his information from the DSS.

    “This statement is imperative to clarify some information in the media to the contrary”, she concluded.

  • Ihejirika not Boko Haram sponsor – DSS

    Ihejirika not Boko Haram sponsor – DSS

    The Department of State Security has risen in defence of the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika (rtd), saying it’s uncharitable and wicked for anyone to associate him with sponsorship of the Boko Haram insurgency.

    The Spokesperson of the DSS, Ms. Marilyn Ogar, who addressed journalists at the Service’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday, also said the former Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, has been invited for questioning.

    An Australian hostage negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, had, in a cable media interview last week, fingered Ihejirika and Sheriff as some of the major sponsors of Boko Haram.

    Davis was hired by President Goodluck Jonathan to help negotiate the release of the over 200 Chibok school girls abducted by Boko Haram in April 14. The girls are still in the sect’s captivity.

    Ms. Ogar said: “I want to say here that it is absolutely uncharitable for us as Nigerians to reward like that somebody who laid down his life in pursuing the same people.

    “For us to accept that he is associated with the same sect whose activities he, together with this Service, succeeded in bringing to a halt in Kano, Okene and other places, pursuing them down to the Sambisa Forest.

    “And to accept that the same man was sponsoring Boko Haram is wicked and uncharitable. We should not allow people to use our liberal nature to perpetrate all sort of evils in our society.”

    On ex -Governor Sheriff, Ogar said: “He had been invited here twice in the past. The Service has invited him again. There is nothing that this service has done in investigation in the past that we have not informed the public.”

     

  • 700 APC members sue Army, DSS, police for N47.2b

    700 APC members sue Army, DSS, police for N47.2b

    ABOUT 700 members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who were allegedly arrested, detained and brutalised during the August 9, 2014 governorship election in Osun State have gone to court.

    The APC members have sued the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Police Force and the Directorate of Security Service (DSS) for breach of their fundamental human rights.

    In the suit, filed on their behalf by their counsel, Femi Falana (SAN), the party members are claiming N47.2 billion as damages.

    The applicants include the National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; the National Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire; the Attorney General of Osun State, Mr. Wale Afolabi and the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Wale Adedoyin.

    Others are the Regent of Iloko Ijesha, High Chief Sola Ogunsanya, member representing Ilesha West in the House of Assembly, Folarin Fafowora, a businessman, Chief Tijani Oladosu and many others.

    Joined as respondents/defendants in the suit are the Chief of Army staff, the Director of DSS and the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

    The claimants filed a 24-point fundamental rights enforcement applications.

    In their originating motions filed by Falana at the Federal High Court, Osogbo, Osun State, the applicants, who came from over 20 local governments, are asking the court for a declaration that their arrest and detention by officers of the respondents on August 8 and 9, 2014 is unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.

    They said it was also in violation of their fundamental right to personal liberty as guaranteed by sections 34 and 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and Articles 5 and 6 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, Cap A9, LFN, 2004.

    They prayed the court for a declaration that the arrest and manhandling of the applicants by officers of the respondents on August 8 and 9, 2014 constitute a violation of their freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment as guaranteed by Section 34 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

    Other prayers are for “a declaration that the prevention of the applicants from participating in the governorship election that took place on Saturday August 9, 2014 and voting for the candidate (s) of their choice is illegal and unconstitutional as it violates Articles 13(1) and 20 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Cap. A9, LFN 2004.

    “An order directing the respondents to pay aggravated damages/compensation in the sum of N100,000,000 to each applicant and tender public apology to each of the applicants for the aforesaid illegal and unconstitutional violations of the applicants’ fundamental rights”.

    Attached to some of the court processes were pictures of some of the applicants, showing injuries sustained while under torture allegedly in the hands of the officials of the respondents.

    Some of the applicants said they were arrested in the night preceding the election day, stripped naked and severely beaten by the officials of the respondents.

    “As they were severally detained in different places until the election was over on August 9, 2014, they were not allowed to participate in and vote for the candidates of their choices”.

    They also alleged that they were all arrested because of their membership of APC and support for Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

    Meanwhile, several Nigerians, including the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, have condemned the use of soldiers and masked security men in monitoring and conducting the election.

    The state Attorney-General, Mr. Wale Afolabi, said the use of the masked armed men “is an indication that the democratic process still has a long way to go.”

     

  • Fake DSS operative returns to Osogbo court Sept 12

    Fake DSS operative returns to Osogbo court Sept 12

    •Ex-Ilesa West council chair arraigned

    The charge of impersonation against a young man, Victor Aladegbolu, will come before an Osogbo Magistrate’s Court for hearing on September 12.

    Aladegbolu, 22, was accused of parading himself as an operative of the Department of State Security (DSS) during the last Osun State governorship poll.

    The court, last week, ordered that the accused person be remanded in Ilesa prison custody till the adjourned date.

    The prosecutor, Mr. Biodun Badiora, told the court that the accused person conspired with others now at large to commit the offence on August 9, 2014 at about 12:00 p.m at City Hall, Ile-Ife.

    Badiora said the accused person, with others, was caught wearing a T-shirt with an inscription of Police logo in the front and DSS at the back, claiming to be DSS officers.

    He was apprehended by police officers.

    He alleged that the accused person disrupted the conduct of the August 9 election in Ile-Ife and its environs.

    He said the offence committed by the accused person was contrary to and punishable under Sections 517 and 109 of the Criminal Code Cap 34, Vol.11 Laws of Osun State, 2003.

    Badiora, announcing his appearance, said the state’s Attorney General was taking over the matter from the police to ensure diligent prosecution.

    Defence counsel Nnenna Ngwu did not object to the application by the state to take over prosecution.

    She said the court had been saved the rigour of stretched trial with the suspect pleading guilty to the two-count charges against him.

    The Magistrate, Mr. Olusola Aluko, who rejected the bail application for the suspect, urged defence counsel to apply for bail formally.

    He also ordered that the accused person be remanded in prison custody and adjourned the matter

    Aladegbolu, who was initially held in police custody before the poll, was released and later re-arrested.

    Both the state government and the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had before and during the election raised the alarm over the presence of hoodlums impersonating men of the Nigerian Army, the Police, DSS and other security agencies.

    The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, last Wednesday, said  the election was nearly rigged and condemned the presence of hooded security agents.

    Also arraigned by the police was a former Chairman of Ilesa West Local Government, Mr. Ibukun Fadipe, who allegedly attacked APC members.

    Fadipe was last Thursday arraigned over a case of attack on some people in Ilesa in 2009.

    The former chairman, who appeared before Chief Magistrate A.O. Ijiyode, was accused of assaulting Alhaja Mulikat Odeyemi and others as well as damaging the speakers and engine of Isokun Social Elite Club in Ilesa on May 28, 2009.

    The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge.

    The defence counsel, Oluwaseun Ajoba, urged the court to dismiss the case as all the complainants who were victims of the assault were in court, saying they had withdrawn the case.

    The prosecuting counsel, Promise Akanwa, opposed the move as he said the proper procedure was for the counsel to apply for bail.

    After much argument, counsel to the accused pleaded for bail, Fadipe could not jump bail as he was an immediate past council chairman.

    Ajoba argued that all the complainants, who were direct victims of the alleged assault, could stand as surety for the accused.

    The Chief Magistrate thereafter granted the accused bail in the sum of N500, 000 and two sureties, who must be residents in Ilesa.

  • Suicide bombers may dress as Catholic priests, Military warns

    Suicide bombers may dress as Catholic priests, Military warns

    TERRORISTS may be up to a new trick in their suicide bombing mission in the country, the Department of State Security (DSS) warned yesterday.

    The agency said the next set of suicide bombers may disguise as Catholic Sisters after unidentified persons broke into a tailor’s  shop  in Kano, carting away 13 pieces of sisters’ outfit.

    It could not understand what a non-sister would want to do with the dresses other than to threaten the peace of the country.

    It therefore warned the public to be watchful.

    The DSS in a statement by its spokesman, Marilyn Ogar said   female suicide bombers might put on the dresses to bomb some unsuspecting targets.

    She said the unidentified persons broke into the  tailor’s  shop located at No. 55, Odutola Street, Sabon Gari, Kano during the week.

    “With the recent trend of female suicide bombings in the country, the theft of these regalia heightens concerns about the possibility of terrorist elements using same to perpetrate acts of terror,” she said.

    She asked everyone to “be more circumspect and exercise greater vigilance with users of such peculiar attires.”

    She also urged co-operation by all with law enforcement agencies through the provision of useful information on suspicious activities within their immediate environment.

    Recent bomb blasts in Kano and Kaduna were carried out by female terrorists.

    Meanwhile, the police have opened investigation into the alleged attempt on the life of the Commandant General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr. Ade Abolurin.

    The Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said the  outcome of the investigation would be made public in due course.

    The NSCDC, had raised accused an unnamed Police Inspector of attempting to open fire on its  Commandant General Mr. Ade Abolurin.

    The Corps claimed that the said police inspector also threatened the lives of over 200 persons that were with the NSCDC boss at the time.

     

  • DSS alerts on missing Catholic regalia

    DSS alerts on missing Catholic regalia

    •Says terrorist may use them for suicide bombing

    THE Department of State Security (DSS) has called on members of the public to be on the lookout for female suicide bombers that may disguise in the traditional Catholic Sisters’ regalia to bomb some unsuspecting targets.

    A statement yesterday signed by the spokesman of the DSS, Ms. Marilyn Ogar, said some unidentified persons broke into a tailoring shop located at No. 55, Odutola Street, Sabon Gari, Kano.

    According to the DSS, the invaders stole 13 pieces of the regalia from the shop and had since disappeared into thin air.

    “With the recent trend of female suicide bombings in the country, the theft of these regalia heightens concerns about the possibility of terrorist elements using same to perpetrate acts of terror.

    “Consequently, this Service wishes to draw the attention of the public to this development and to call on all citizens to be more circumspect and exercise greater vigilance with users of such peculiar attires.

    “We therefore enjoin all to continue to cooperate with law enforcement agencies through the provision of useful information on suspicious activities within their immediate environment.

    “This Service will continue to collaborate with all stakeholders as we strive to keep our country safe,” the statement added.

    The police authorities have also opened investigation into an alleged attempt on the life of the Commandant General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr. Ade Abolurin.

    A statement yesterday by the Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said the outcome of the investigation would be made public in due course.

  • DSS gets knocks for linking APC with bomb blasts

    DSS gets knocks for linking APC with bomb blasts

    The Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (CENTREP) has condemned comments by the spokesperson of the Department of State Security (DSS), Mrs. Marilyn Ogar, linking the All Progressives Congress (APC) to Boko Haram.

    Mrs. Ogar was quoted as saying: “When the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wins an election, the nation records bomb blasts, but when the APC wins an election, there is no bomb blast.”

    The National Coordinator of the Southsouth group, Mr. Oghenejabor Ikimi, described Mrs. Ogar’s statement as “irresponsible, reprehensible, reckless and unbecoming of a senior security operative”.

    He said it was unfortunate that a senior security operative could make such allegation without substantiating it.

    Ikimi said: “The comment of the DSS spokesperson was unprofessional and portrayed the DSS as an organisation working for the ruling party alone and not Nigeria as a country. What a shame.

    “In the light of the foregoing, we urge security agencies to insulate themselves, henceforth, from politics to effectively defend our fledgling democracy from political hawks and buccaneers parading our polity.”

    The group dismissed Mrs Ogar’s claim that DSS officials declined N14 million bribe offered to them by politicians in Osun State, describing

    it as “a mere publicity stunt lacking evidence”.

    Ikimi said: “Why were the persons involved not arrested and handed over to the police for investigation and prosecution?”

    He advised Mrs. Ogar to stay away from politics and focus on her job.