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Tag: sss

  • PEF, SSS to rid depots of ‘unscrupulous marketers’

    The Petroleum Equalisation Fund said it has concluded plans with the State Security Service and other security operatives to raid depots nationwide of unscrupulous marketers.

    The General Manager (Corporate Services) of PEF, Mr. Goddy Nnadi, disclosed this on Friday in a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after a sensitisation tour of marketers operating at the Kaduna depot.

    Nnadi said the measure became necessary, following complaints of vandalism and theft of some PEF gadgets being used in the electronic loading scheme tagged: “Project Aquila.”

    He said some dubious marketers and individuals had recently been involved in the theft and racketeering of truck electronic tags provided by PEF, with a view to selling and using them on unregistered trucks.

    NAN reports that Project Aquila (electronic loading) requires petroleum marketers to register and tag their trucks for easy tracking and payment of their bridging claims by PEF.

    “It has come to our notice that a small group of unscrupulous marketers and individuals now engage in stealing of this truck tags, with a view to either selling it or using it on unregistered trucks so as to get products from the depots,” Nnadi said.

    He said the PEF had beefed up its security apparatus in the Project Aquila, saying the truck tags cannot be swapped or used on an unregistered truck without detection.

    He warned that anyone caught in the illicit act would be blacklisted and handed over to security agencies for prosecution.

     

  • Christmas Day bombing: Sokoto faults trial

    Christmas Day bombing: Sokoto faults trial

    The alleged mastermind of the 2011 Christmas Day bombing of the St Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, Kabiru Umar aka Kabiru Sokoto has faulted his trial and asked the court to set him free.

    In his no-case submission, Umar argued that the prosecution has failed to produce sufficient evidence to link him with the charges of terrorism leveled against him.

    He urged the court to discharge and acquit him.

    The suspect argued that the proof of evidence before the court did not link him to the alleged crimes.

    He contended that the evidence so far led by the prosecution failed to establish any offence against him

    Umar’s position is contained in a written brief he filed in court, a copy of which The Nation sighted on Friday.

    He contended that while the state accused him of “facilitating the commission of terrorist act by planting and encouraging some boys (now at large) at Mabira Sokoto, in Sokoto State with the intention of bombing the police headquarters and some other government agencies in the state” the government failed to bring any of the boys he allegedly planted and encouraged to testify against him.

    He said rather than bringing the boys whom the operatives of the State Security Service claimed gave them information about how he encouraged them to bomb police headquarters and other government agencies in Sokoto, he said the Federal Government brought operatives of the SSS who came to court to give hear-say evidence which has no “probative value. “

    Umar argued that the prosecution failed to lead evidence to establish how he facilitated the commission of terrorist acts.

     

  • Al-Makura sets up panel to investigate security agents’ killings

    Al-Makura sets up panel to investigate security agents’ killings

    Governor of Nasarawa State, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, on Monday said the state government would within two weeks constitute a Judicial Commission of Enquiry to investigate the massacre of 56 security personnel in Lakyo village.

    Members of the Ombatse cult had allegedly ambushed and killed 46 police officers and 10 State Security Service (SSS) agents said to have been drafted to ensure security in the village recently.

     

    Al-Makura disclosed this when the Nasarawa State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Concerned Forum visited him in Lafia.

    Former Governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, led the PDP delegation, drawn from the three Senatorial Zones of the state.

    Adamu insisted that the state government knows the perpetrators of the crime.

    He urged the government to ensure that they were apprehended and punished to serve as a deterrent to others.

    Almakura said the unfortunate incident was both ironic and painful.

    He said: “The killing of the security officers was an irony because they were posted to the village to protect the people but they were killed.

    “It was painful because those who perpetrated the act have up till today not shown any sign of remorse.”

    He lamented that the Ombatse militia group has continued to kill and maim innocent citizens in the state since November last year.

    He added: “One would have wished that the perpetrators of this abominable act would feel sorry and show remorse.

    “But I want to assure you that the perpetrators of this criminal act would be brought to justice.

    “We will set up a Judicial Commission of Enquiry in the next two weeks to probe the unfortunate incident and anybody indicted would be prosecuted and punished according to law.”

  • SSS holds service for ‘fallen compatriots’

    SSS holds service for ‘fallen compatriots’

    It was impossible to keep dry eyes yesterday at the service held in honour of the fallen officers of the State Security Service (SSS. The service was held at the SSS Abuja.

    Tears flowed as spouses and kinsmen of the 10 SSS men ambushed while on national duty to Alakyo, a remote community in Nasarawa State. Heartbroken family members and friends of the officers struggled to come to terms with the reality of the death of their beloved.

    Some of them wept openly, the elderly ones hung their heads, bowed down in grief. It was not just the reality of the deaths but the most gruesome execution of it. In the service, it was not difficult to picture how the end came for those they called “compatriots”.

    The Director-General of the State Security Services (SSS) Ekpenyong Ita, spoke slowly and deliberately. He reflected the mood of the gathering and as he spoke more tears flowed.

    “ Though your death was untimely, we shall forever hold and cherish your memory. We will not rest on our oars until peace and security is restored in all troubled spots of our nation. We love you, but God loves you most,” Ekpenyong said.

    The murdered officers are: Muhammad Isah Gobir, Thomas Nomsule Terzungwe, Julius Ber, Durfar Nandu Timman, Nimsel Ponfa, Aliyu Shehu, Daniel JohnPaul, Benjamin Abughul, Paul Samuel and Salihu Suhununu.

  • We lost 56 men in Nasarawa, say police, SSS

    We lost 56 men in Nasarawa, say police, SSS

    •’Why Kuku, Asari-Dokubo, others can’t be arrested’

    SECURITY operatives yesterday announced what they suffered in the ill-fated raid on the hideout of Ombatse cult group in Nasarawa State.

    The police lost 46 men while the State Security Service (SSS) lost all the 10 men deployed in the joint operation that went awry last Thusday.

    The details were given in a statement jointly signed by defence and security information managers of the Army, Navy, Air Force, SSS and the police.

    Their clarification came even as they gave those calling for the arrest and investigation of ex-Niger Delta militant, Mujaheed Asari-Dokubo and Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty Programme, Mr. Kinsley Kuku, a disappointing response.

    The information managers said the duo and several others issuing sectional threats over the 2015 presidency were merely exercising their freedom of speech.

    They said such rights enjoy constitutional backing and that clamping down on them would amount to gagging them and infringing on their human rights, saying that such a development might pit the government against the media and the human rights community.

    The Director of Navy Information, Commodore Kabiru Aliyu said: “We are in democracy and so, it is not easy to gag members of the public. If we do so, the media and the human rights community will complain about infringing on the fundamental rights of the citizenry.”

    Dokubo and Kuku were reported to have stated penultimate week that the Niger Delta region would take up arms if President Goodluck Jonathan failed to get re-election in 2015.

    He went further to challenge the nation’s security agencies to arrest him if they could, threatening national economic havoc in the oil producing areas.

    The Defence and Security Information Managers is made up of the Director of Defence Information, spokespersons of the Army, Air Force, Navy, State Security Service (SSS) and the police.

    The Duputy Force spokesman, Mr. Frank Mba, who represented the police, said out of the 47 police officers sent to Nasarawa State in the operation to dislodge members of an ethnic militia cult, 46 of them were killed.

    SSS spokesperson, Ms. Marilyn Ogar said all the 10 officers of the Service who went on the mission were also killed by the ethnic militia group.

    Mba added that 32 bodies had been released for burial; while Ogar said the SSS had only recovered bodies of four of its 10 officers killed.

    Mba and Ms Ogar attributed the high security casualties to what they described as the decision of the police and the SSS to exercise restraint by applying minimum force during the operation.

    According to them, it was a low profile civil operation that should be deployed while dealing with unarmed members of the public, stressing that it was not a security onslaught as being seen by a section of the public.

    The spokespersons dismissed reports that 10 local government areas in Borno State had been taken over by Boko Haram insurgents, insisting that the state has not lost any of its council areas to the sect members.

    Defence spokesman, Brigadier Chris Olukolade, who chaired the briefing, said troops were deployed in flash points across the nation, including oil installation facilities.

    He added that security surveillance was also ongoing, covering the land, air space and water ways.

    The statement jointly signed by the information managers said: “Accordingly, the operational designs for restoring peace, law and order have involved the deployment of the assets of Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force, Nigeria Police, Department of State Security and other security agencies in the country.

    “Internal security operations in the form of vigilance and patrols on land, sea, and air are being conducted regularly in order to deny militants and criminal gangs any freedom of action as they desire.

    “Troops and operatives have been physically deployed in various flash points all over the country and on critical oil and gas facilities to protect them from attack. Cordon and search operations are also regularly undertaken to check the capacity of the gangs and checkmate their activities.

    “Jointly, the Services have been conducting anti-kidnapping operations cordon and search, destruction of militant camps, security for oil and gas facilities, anti illegal oil bunkering patrols as well as anti banditry, anti piracy operations and arrest of terrorists of all shad among others.”

    They, however, admitted the frightening dimension in the nation’s security challenges, saying it is a clear threat to safety and national security.

    They pleaded for cooperation from members of the public in terms of providing useful security information that could aid the operations of their men in the fight against terrorism and other criminal acts.

    Present at the briefing were spokespersons for Defence (Olukolade); Navy (Aliyu); Air Force (Yusuf Anas); Police (Mba); and SSS (Ms Ogar).

     

  • Bombing: SSS calls more witnesses against ‘Kabiru Sokoto’

    Bombing: SSS calls more witnesses against ‘Kabiru Sokoto’

    The trial of terrorism suspect, Kabiru Sokoto, continued on Monday before Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, with more witnesses giving evidence.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the accused, who is originally called Kabiru Umar, is standing trial for his alleged role in the Christmas day bombing of St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger, in 2011.

    Giving evidence, a blind-fold police officer, referred to as “ABC’’ for security reason, said the Madalla attack was not a suicide attack but a coordinated attack.

    He explained that the accused was privy to the arrangement that led to the bombing of the Church on Christmas day.

    “ABC’’ said the accused, with seven other alleged Boko Haram members, took steps at various intervals to plant explosives in the vehicle near the Church.

    The prosecution witness further testified that the explosives caused the death of many people and injured many others.

    Reacting to questions challenging the authenticity of the accused person’s confessional statement during cross examination, the witness said the accused voluntarily gave his statement.

    “ABC’’ said it was not true that the statement was a figment of his imagination.

    “My Lord, my evidence before the court is the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’’

    In his evidence, another prosecution witness, an operative of the State Security Service (SSS), said he led a team of other SSS operatives to Sabongida in Taraba in an attempt to re-arrest the accused.

    He explained that on February 10, 2012 at about 4.30am the team stormed the residence where the accused took refuge after escaping from police custody.

     

  • Nasarawa: Militia still holding policemen hostage –Abubakar

    Nasarawa: Militia still holding policemen hostage –Abubakar

    About four policemen are still being held in captivity by the Ombatse militia which ambushed a security team last Monday in Nasarawa State.

    The police say 23 of their men and those from the State Security Service (SSS) were killed in the ambush at Alakyo Village.

    The Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, on an on-the-spot tour of the state yesterday said the captured policemen must be released.

    He said the force police will engage peaceful method to set the hostages free.

    Abubakar visited Lafia in company of the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade; the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Zone IV, Mr. Mike Zukumor; the state commissioner of police, Abayomi Akeremale and other officers of the police high command.

    He said: “The killing of these police officers and men and other security men was “callous”. I wish to call on elders and eminent citizens of the state to collaborate with the police in order to fish out the perpetrators.

    “We are making every peaceful effort to ensure that some of our men still being held hostage are released unhurt.

    “There is an ongoing dialogue both in the state, and at other quarters. We are optimistic that the personnel still being held would soon be released.”

    The minister, said: “Such ‘barbaric’ act on officers whose duty is to safeguard lives of others, is unacceptable in a decent society. Somebody somewhere is causing havoc for whatever reason and the society must not allow that to continue. I want to assure you that justice will be given to the slain officers.”

    Two hours after the IGP left Lafia in his chopper, four ambulances drove into Dalhatu Araf Specialists’ Hospital (DASH), with some more bodies.

    Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura had said on Friday that “Every arrangement for their (security operatives’) safety was made. The most unfortunate thing that happened was the betrayal within them. This is what betrayal has caused for not only you (widows), but the rest of the nation.”

    Al-Makura also said the State Security Council (SCC) was aware that four of the security personnel were still held hostage by the militia.

    He added: “The compounding issue is that the place is still insecure. It is not to say we can’t go there. We are trying to get anyone still alive there. We heard up to four men are still being held, but the police are working hard to free them.

    “We are making efforts to recover the remaining bodies of the slain officers, adding that the area of the incident is still volatile.”

    The governor said the militia had been proscribed since January 2013 and were carrying out their activities unlawfully.

    He said most Eggon leaders and elders were not happy at the activities of the group “but could not talk to them for fear of the sophisticated weapons at their disposal.”

    The governor has released N1million to each of the families of security agents who were killed in the attack. He also announced a donation of N3 million to the family of the slain Assistant Commissioner of Police and pledged the support of the state government in settling the medical bills of those who were injured in the attack.

    The governor announced this in Lafia shortly after meeting with some widows of the affected security officers.

  • SSS nabs woman, others for alleged forgery of tax clearance

    Five persons including a 37-year -old woman have been arrested in Anambra State by the State Security Service (SSS), for forgery of the State Government Tax Clearance Certificates and other documents.

    Two of the major culprits are Uchenna Okonkwon female, (37) and Kingsley Akamgozirim 40 years, while others like Chijioke Okeke, Madubuka Onwubiko and Daniel Chikezie were also accomplices.

  • SSS parades man who claimed Akpabio wanted to kill senator

    SSS parades man who claimed Akpabio wanted to kill senator

    A 29-YEAR-OLD graduate of Mechanical Engineering, Adelola Tamunotonye Olaore, has been paraded by the State Security Service (SSS) for alleged impersonation and attempt to obtain money by fraudulent means.

    SSS spokesperson Ms. Marilyn Ogar alleged the suspect approached Senator Aloysius Etok and told him that he had information about a plot by Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio to assassinate the senator.

    According to the SSS, Etok played along with the suspect and encouraged him to come to Abuja from his base in Port Harourt,Rivers State.

    Having informed the SSS about the plot, the Senator lodged the suspect in one of the high-brow hotels in Abuja where he was arrested by security operatives after his interaction with the senator.

    Ogar said: “The suspect introduced himself to the senator as General Africa, an ex-militant from Bayelsa State. He then told the senator that he had been contracted by three of governor Akpabio’s loyalists to assassinate him.

    “In order to convince the senator, he offered to furnish him with details of the governor’s purported bank account and energy company in South Africa. That he offered to broker peace between the senator and the governor, which the senator accepted.”

    Olaore, however, denied telling the senator about any assassination plot against him. He admitted that he had lied to the senator about having the right connections to broker peace between him and the governor.

    He said: “The truth is that I lied to the senator that I am highly connected enough to arrange for the governor and the senator to settle their differences.

    “I got the senator’s telephone number when I went to the Port Harcourt office of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) sometime in January.

    “I stumbled on his complimentary card in one of the NDDC offices when I went there to submit a mail. But when I learnt about the rift between him and the governor, I decided to approach the senator with the aim of obtaining some money from him.

    “All I needed was about N300, 000 to pursue my master’s degree programme and I thought I could get it from the senator by lying to him about myself and my mission.

    “I never told the senator that I had information on anyone trying to assassinate him. I only lied to obtain money from him by pretending to be what I am not and I regret my action”.

    Akpabio and Etok have been at each other’s throat over the Ikot Ekpene senatorial seat ahead of 2015. Etok currently occupies the office. Akpabio is eyeing the seat.

    The senator yesterday told reporters on the telephone that he was at a function and that it was not convenient for him to speak on the matter.

    The SSS said the suspect will soon be charged to court.

     

  • Court orders police, SSS to pay group N10m for stripping members in public

    Justice Evon Chukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday ordered the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) and the State Security Service (SSS) to pay N10million to a group, Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN).

    Both security agencies were found guilty of stripping naked in public members of the group and subjecting them to other forms of harassment.

    Justice Chukwu declared the actions of both agencies on members of the group as “barbaric, uncivilised and a gross abuse of powers”.

    The judgment followed a suit by the Trustees of the PCN, which sued the police and SSS for abuse of its members and a secret report by the SSS labelling the group and its members security risks.

    The group argued that the series of attack on its members by both agencies reached the peak in July, last year, when, at a state function in Zamfara State, some policemen and SSS officials held 11 of its members, beat them up and stripped them naked.

    The members’ offence, the group said, was that they refused the security operatives’ directive to remove their uniform in public.

    They also complained about a plot by the security agencies to ground PCN’s activities nationwide by authoring spurious security reports labeling it and its members security risks.

    Justice Chukwu ordered men of both agencies to conduct themselves within the ambit of the law and refrain from gross abuse of innocent citizens’ rights to freedom of association.

    The judge, who noted the PCN was a duly registered private organisation, barred the police and SSS from further interfering with its lawful activities and programmes.

    He restrained them from further arrest, detention, intimidation and harassment of PCN member.

    Justice Chukwu held that it was barbaric and uncivilised for operatives of the SSS and the police to strip officials of the Peace Corps (members of the group) naked in the public for no cause that could be defended in a law court.

    The judge nullified and set aside the secret security report, which the SSS sent to some governors, labelling PCN as an unregistered and a security threat. He held that the report was unlawful, illegal, unwarranted and made in bad faith.

    Justice Chukwu held that the SSS was not diligent in defending the case, adding that in a democracy, where the rule of law prevails, such a gross abuse of power and deliberate infringement on citizens’ rights must not be allowed.

    He disagreed with the defendants’ claim that the group was exploiting Nigerian youths by training them on illegal activities that could undermine the country’s security.

    Justice Chukwu averred that the defendants did not supply any proof to support their allegations.

    The group’s National Commandant, Ambassador Dickson Akoh, hailed the judge for upholding the rule of law.

    He said the SSS and the police had crippled PCN’s activities in past judgments in their favour.