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Tag: dss

  • DSS not military negotiated release of Dapchi schoolgirls – DHQ

    The Defence Headquarters has said the military were not involved in the negotiations leading to the release of 104 out of the 110 girls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents in Dapchi, Yobe state.

    The Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig. Gen John Agim said in a text message that the Department of State Services, (DSS) , led the negotiations for the release of the girls.

    Following series of enquiries from the Defence Headquarters on the role of the Military regarding the release of the girls in the early hours of Wednesday, Brig. Gen Agim responded via a text message saying “the girls were released through negotiations led by the Department of State Services (DSS)”

    Recall that the girls were abducted in their hostels at Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State by the Boko Haram insurgents on Monday 19, February 2018. They were however released on Wednesday (yesterday) following mass appeals and negotiations nationally and internationally.

     

  • Namadi Sambo stays mute after private meeting with Buhari

    Former Vice President to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Arch. Mohammed Namadi Sambo, has declined comment on the outcome of his meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.

    TheNewsGuru reports Sambo visited the Presidential Villa and met behind closed doors with Buhari this morning.

    The meeting, which took place in the president’s office, and which lasted for less than an hour, the former Vice President said was a private one.

    However, it would be recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had on February 2, 2016, raided an office complex in Abuja belonging to the former Vice President.

    The EFCC operatives carried out the raid in search of clues linking him to the 2.1 billion dollars arms scandal popularly referred to as Dasukigate.

    Meanwhile, Sambo had raised an alarm sometimes ago over alleged raid on his house by the Department of State Services (DSS).

    Sambo noted that the most recent raid on his house was the fifth in a sequence.

    Explaining how the security operatives raided his home, Sambo said despite the continuous action of the anti-graft organizations, nothing incriminating had been found.

    However, the DSS denied invading the ex-vice president’s home and warned other security and anti-corruption agencies to desist from operating in the name of the service.

    Sambo served as Nigeria’s vice-president under former President Goodluck Jonathan between May 19, 2010 and May 29, 2015.

     

  • 2019: INEC reports own staff to police, DSS for registering ineligible voters

    The Independent National Electoral Commission says it has reported some of its senior officials in Taraba State to security agencies for allegedly registering ineligible voters during the Continuous Voter Registration exercise.

    INEC failed to mention if the illegal voters were aliens or underage voters. It also failed to reveal the identities of the senior officials that were given queries.

    In a statement by the Head of Voter Education and Publicity in Taraba State, Fabian Vwamhi, the commission said the illegal voters had been expunged from the register.

    The statement read in part, “Following its laid down processes, INEC Taraba office has discovered that some ineligible voters have been registered in the ongoing CVR exercise.

    “This is not only contrary to INEC’s guidelines for registration, but is also a violation of the Electoral Act.

    “Consequently, the Taraba State office has flagged these illegal registrations for removal from the voter register.

    “In addition, it has queried the electoral officer as well as the registration officer for the centre.

    “It has informed the headquarters of the commission in Abuja and drawn the attention of security agencies for further investigation and possible prosecution of all found to have been involved, including INEC staff.”

  • DSS releases detained journalist

    The Department of State Services has released the Abuja Bureau Chief of The Independent Newspapers, Mr. Tony Ezimako.

    He was said to have been released around 10:30pm by the security agency in Abuja on Wednesday night

    Journalists and members of civil society groups had planned to storm the headquarters of the DSS in Abuja on Thursday to protest the continued detention of the journalist.

    His unconditional release was said to have foiled the protest.

    Ezimako was reportedly arrested by the DSS over an investigative report he published on how the Federal Government paid ransom to secure the release of some of the abducted Chibok girls.

  • Delta landlords petition Okowa, BEDC for illegal disconnection of power supply

    Landlords in Delta state under the aegis of Association of Landlords of Block VII, Phase V, Core Area, Asaba, have petitioned the state Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) after the electricity distribution company allegedly illegally disconnected power supply to their area.

    In a strong worded petition addressed to the state governor for urgent intervention, the electricity consumers lamented that trouble started when BEDC officials led by Ernest on June 8, 2017 illegally disconnected power supply to the area.

    The letter which was also copied to the State Attorney-General & Commissioner for Justice, the State Director, Department for State Security, Asaba, the Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, the Delta State House of Assembly and host of others, stressed that if nothing is done to the constant harassment of residents of the area, they might be forced into self-help.

    “The lingering crisis between officials of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and electricity consumers of Block VII, Phase V of Asaba Core Area, Delta State, has worsened, as residents of the area may be forced to take laws into their hands if the head of BEDC in the state, Mr. Edgar Ernest, does stop intimidating residents of the area,” the petition read.

    A copy of the letter titled: “’Imminent Breakdown of Law and Order in Block VII, Core Area, Asaba: Petition against one Mr. Edgar Ernest and BEDC for their Lawlessness” which was signed by Mr. E. W. Ureki, and Mr. E. C. Okoro on behalf of the aggrieved landlords was obtained by our correspondent on Sunday.

    The petitioners in the letter accused Mr. Ernest of using security operatives to intimidate and harass residents in the area while going about unlawfully disconnecting electricity consumers in a bid to rope residents of the area in illegal connection.

    They specifically told Governor Okowa and security agencies that the activities of Mr. Ernest, who is the State Chief Head of BEDC, violates extant laws and directives of Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) which had earlier ordered him to reconnect the area to power.

    According to them, “On June 8, 2017, the said Distribution Company led by Mr. Edgar Ernest disconnected our supply lines to Dublina Hotel Transformer, including the Dublina Hotels, in a manner that grossly violated our rights to the enjoyment of electricity, same being in breach of the extant laws and regulations of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

    “The allegations by the Disco for disconnection were that we connected to the said Dublina Transformer illegally, that is, by ourselves, and engaged in electricity theft, which illegal connections led to unsafe connections and loss of revenue. We were slammed with different charges as being the value of their Energy we stole.

    “From our interactions with him (Edgar Ernest), we came to the conclusion that he suspected we did not have meters and were conniving with his officials to divert monies meant for the Disco. But we immediately rebutted it by producing our bills and evidence of our vending to him.”

    It stated that when efforts by residents to prevail on the BEDC Head to reconnect them to power failed, they took the matter before the Asaba Forum of the NERC, a body that is statutorily saddled with the responsibility of arbitration in disputes between the Disco and its consumers which ruled in their favour.

    Since B.E.D.C. could not provide proof of its allegations even after the extra days allotted it, the Forum, on the 14th of November, 2017 delivered its ruling which it had written on 9/11/2017 directing inter-alia: that the Disco re-connect us within 48 hours of service of the Ruling, and pay a penalty of N1,000.00 (One thousand naira) per day to each of the affected pre-paid meter customers.

    “The copies of the Ruling were served on B.E.D.C. on the 17th of November, 2017 by the Asaba Forum. Mr. Edgar Ernest was also served the same day. It is pertinent to recall Mr. Edgar’s braggadocio on the day of the Ruling, when he dismissed it as not being worth the paper on which it was written. He boasted that not even the N.E.R.C. Abuja can compel him or B.E.D.C., to restore our light.

    “Our worry is that BEDC and its Delta Chief State Head, Mr. Ernest Edgar seemed to be operating above the laws of the land and they are now using the Nigerian Police to harass, threaten and intimidate us whereas the Ruling of the Asaba Forum and the directive of the N.E.R.C. Abuja, explicitly asked B.E.D.C. to pay us compensation from June 8, 2017 when we were disconnected from the Dublina Hotel transformer, and re-connect us immediately”, the letter further read.

    While appealing to the governor to call Mr. Ernest and BEDC officials to order, they stressed that BEDC disobedience of the three Rulings of the Asaba Forum directing them to re-connect the area to light amounts to a gross violation of Section 63(1) of the Electricity Power Sector Reform 2005, and Conditions 4, and 50 of the Electricity Distribution License Terms and Conditions.

     

  • We bribed DSS, others N1m to clear 661 Guns – suspect

    The trial of five men who were charged with illegal importation of 661 pump-action guns continued on Monday, with the first defendant, Mahmud Hassan, alleging that the gang paid N1 million to security agents to smuggle in the gun consignment at the Apapa Port, Lagos.

    Hassan made the allegation in a video played in court on Monday by the prosecution.

    The video was played in a trial-within-trial to test the voluntariness of the statement made by Hassan while in the custody of the Department of State Services.

    Hassan’s lawyer, Yakubu Galadima, had, at the previous hearing, opposed the move by the prosecution to tender his client’s statement as an exhibit, contending that he was tortured to make the statement.

    Justice Ayokunle Faji had then ordered a trial-within-trial to test the voluntariness of the statement.

    At Monday’s proceedings, the prosecution played a video of how Hassan was interrogated by the DSS operatives.

    The clip indicated that the interrogation was conducted on March 27, 2017 between 2pm and 2.45pm.

    The prosecution tendered the video clip in court through a DSS operative, Jaiye Emmanuel.

    The video captured Hassan as saying while being quizzed: “I gave N1 million to facilitate the moving of the container out of the port, but it is not because of the guns.”

    When Hassan was asked how the N1 million was shared among security agencies, he said: “The examiners were given N200,000; C.I.O. N100,000; enforcement N200,000; police, SSS, between N20,000, N25,000, and N30,000; the toll gates, N200,000; exit gate, N20,000; and final gate, N50,000.”

    The clip also captured Hassan telling his interrogators that he first billed the owner of the consignment N3.8 million when he was first told that the container contained steel doors, but raised the cost of clearing the consignment to N4 million when he was told that the consignment included 661 pump-action guns.

    Hassan is standing trial alongside Oscar Okafor; Donatus Achinulo; Matthew Okoye, said to be at large; and Salihu Danjuma.

    They were arraigned by the Federal Government on June 14, 2017 for allegedly importing 661 pump-action rifles into the country without lawful authority.

    In the eight charges pressed against the defendants, the Attorney General of the Federation said the defendants brought 661 pump-action rifles into the country from Turkey through the Apapa Port in Lagos, using a 40-feet container, which they falsely claimed contained steel doors.

  • DSS summons Jonathan’s ex-minister, Labaran Maku for questioning

    The Department of State Services (DSS), Nasarawa state command, on Wednesday invited the former Minister of Communication, Labaran Maku for questioning.

    Maku who also doubles as the National Secretary of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), described his invitation by the DSS as “a good one” which, he said, has nothing to do with the speculations in the social media that he would be arrested.

    Recall that Maku had earlier called on politicians to desist from shedding the blood of innocent Nigerians on account of the forthcoming 2019 general elections.

    Maku made the call in Lafia, shortly after he was quizzed for undisclosed issues for about an hour by the Nasarawa State Command of DSSS.

    He urged politicians to join hands and bring peace and development to their communities instead of promoting violence and bloodshed.

    According to him, as politicians, they could disagree on issues, but that does not mean that they are enemies, adding that disagreement is an important attribute of a democratic system.

    He, however, affirmed that disagreement by politicians should be geared towards making the society better and not to destroy it.

    “I was a commissioner, deputy governor in Nasarawa State and minister at the Federal level, but today, I am not longer in position, but I can still move around freely because I served the country very well and refused to be corrupt.

    “So, leaders should understand that the authority and privilege of every public office would surely end one day, whether we like it or not.”

    He condemned the massive relocation of Tiv people from Nasarawa State due to herdsmen attacks and called on the state government to live up to its responsibilities of securing lives and property.

  • Why I refused to honour DSS’s illegal invitation – Pastor El-Buba

    The Senior Pastor of Evangelical Bible Outreach Ministry International, Jos, Pastor Isa El-Buba has revealed why he refused to honour the invitation of the Department of State Security, DSS on Monday.

    Recall that the cleric evaded arrest by the SSS in Jos on Monday night insisting that the planned arrest was illegal.

    Isa El- Buba stated this Tuesday evening in an interview with journalists in Jos.

    Mr. El-Buba in the interview held at his Ministry towers said a deputy director of the state service stormed his fellowship headquarters on Monday night while he was preparing for a midnight service, but he refused to honour the invitation because, ”the invitation was not authorised in writing.”

    “I demanded for a letter of invitation and was not given, so I became suspicious of their mission in the night to my office.”

    According to Mr. El-Buba, the operatives, who came in two trucks made seveal attempts at his residence to pick him to Abuja under the cover of the night.

    The cleric also said as far as he was concerned, he had done nothing wrong to warrant his arrest. He insisted that he would continue to preach good governance at all levels of government no matter the threats from security agencies.

     

  • How we tracked, killed kidnap kingpin, Don Waney – DSS

    How we tracked, killed kidnap kingpin, Don Waney – DSS

    A top official of the Department of State Security on Wednesday revealed how Don Waney, kidnap kingpin was tracked to his hideout in Enugu.

    Waney allegedly masterminded the killings of 23 worshipers on New Year’s Day, in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers.
    The source told the News Agency of Nigeria on condition of anonymity on Wednesday that the operation that led to his death was successful and averted further bloodshed in the state.

    The informant said the decision to swoop on Waney was taken after he ordered his men to carry out killings of innocent residents of Omoku town.

    The informant said: “We intercepted Waney’s phone conversation he had with one of his lieutenant in which he ordered them to attack schools, hospitals, places of worship, marketplaces and other targets.

    “The killing and maiming of innocent residents of Omoku, including specific targets were scheduled to take place on January 8.

    “When we heard their plan to execute innocent citizens – which to us was the last straw – we decided to inform the Army about a joint operation to avert the killings.

    “This eventually led to the joint operation at his hideout in Enugu leading to his death and that of his two gang members.”

    The DSS operative said that Waney was under intense DSS surveillance for over a year.

    The source said the New Year killings started after Waney sent some of his members to assassinate his third-in-command; but failed after the target escaped his apartment with gunshot wounds.

    According to the source, the killer squad later killed his wife and other close relatives and, thereafter, proceeded to kill five other persons over an existing feud with one of the gang members.

    The source said: “Some of the people who were killed died from stray bullets during the operation by the murderous gang.

    “It was easy to monitor Waney because we had our agent on a constant watch that gave us in-depth knowledge of his where about and activities.

    “Waney had companies that he used as fronts. He used one of these companies to front for surveillance jobs and leak repairs for a major oil company.

    “We know where his family stayed; we know that his boys camped at a forest in Imo state from where they usually launched their operation.

    “Waney was always hiding in Enugu and Ogoja (Cross River). He bought a car in Imo state and took it to Enugu – as part of his plans to change his identity.” NAN learned that the ash coloured Lexus ES330 salon car is currently parked at DSS premises in Port Harcourt.

    The source said that Waney had more than 30 active fighters and many volunteers who allegedly worked for top politicians in the state.

    It said that Waney’s accounts at First Bank and Unity Bank had been frozen and would be forfeited to the Federal Government at the end of the investigation.

    He added: “The banks are fully cooperating with an ongoing investigation which would unravel his financial transactions from the time the accounts where opened.”
    NAN learned the deceased militant leader had more than N700 million at some undisclosed banks which is currently being monitored.

    Waney and his second-in-command, Ikechukwu Adiele, and another suspected gang member, Lucky Ode were killed by security forces in Enugu and their corpses paraded at 6 Division Nigerian Army Port Harcourt on January 7.

    Waney and his gang members received amnesty from the Rivers Government in 2016 but later reneged on the terms of the amnesty deal.

  • El-Zakzaky is not dead – DSS

    The Department of State Services (DSS) has on Friday in Abuja said that the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, is not dead, contrary to rumours.

    An official of the service who preferred to remain anonymous, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that El-Zakzaky was hale and hearty.

    NAN reports that El-zakzakky was arrested in 2015 after his members had a confrontation with the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai in Zaria, Kaduna State.

    NAN also reports that 53 of his followers were arrested on Wednesday by the Police in Abuja following a violent protest.

    Since the arrest and detention of the group’s leader, his followers had organised series of protests in some cities in the country calling for his release.