The State Security Service (SSS) has said that it has made a headway in its bid to mitigate the menace of the militant Islamic sect, Boko Haram, with the arrest of key cell commanders of the sect along with over 100 other suspects in five northern states.
It was also gathered that the Joint Military Task Force in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, at the weekend arrested six suspected members of the sect.
SSS assistant director (public affairs), Ms. Marilyn Ogar, who made this disclosure at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja while addressing the press, also disclosed that the service would not be prosecuting the suspects.
“Successful security operations have led to the arrest of some identified key cell commanders and members of the dissident group in Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Kano, Yobe and Adamawa states.
“For strategic operational reasons, details of those arrested will remain classified as they are still undergoing the process of de-radicalisation, perception management and also trying to win their confidence back to society.”
Ogar stated that the suspects were also working with the service in its bid to mitigate the menace of the sect through information they were providing, hence they would not be prosecuted.
She explained that President Goodluck Jonathan had decided to use the “carrot and stick” approach with the suspects, adding that the service would not go contrary to the strategy.
“On May 23, 2011, security operatives discovered and successfully demobilized eight improvised explosive devices (IEDs) concealed in small and medium size tins beneath a staircase in Kafanchan, Jema’a LGA, Kaduna State.
“On May 29, 2011, an IED planted at the post office area of Gonin Gora, Chikun LGA, Kaduna State, was discovered and successfully demobilised. Similarly, On June 10, 2011, an IED concealed in a sack placed under a kerosene tank along Engr. L.D Abubakar Road, off Kaduna-Abuja Expressway, by Central Marlet in Gonin Gora, Chikun LGA, was also discovered and demobilised.”
Ms Ogar continued, “Information from a patriotic citizen on June 14, 2011, led to the discovery of an IED wired with 9-volt battery concealed under the railway track behind Dambo International College, Barnawa, Kaduna South LGA, which was also demobilsed.
“Also on June 27, 2011, information received from patriotic members of the public assisted in the recovery of some components of yet-to-be assembled explosive including a camping gas cylinder, detonating cables, a bottle of distilled water, pliers, masking tape and clips.”
These, she said, were found in a hotel, and investigation revealed they were meant to be used to bomb a shopping mall in Kaduna, pointing out that, “Nigerians must continue to give the needed support to security agencies by reporting suspicious activities and movements around their environment.
“The successes so far recorded can be credited to the patriotism of some concerned members of the public. It is appropriate at this point to apologise to peace-loving citizens, especially residents of the FCT and its adjoining communities, for the temporary inconveniences they are experiencing.”
Meanwhile, the Military Task Force on “Operation Restore Order” said on Monday that it had arrested six suspects in connection with Sunday’s bomb explosion at the Wulari Mammy Market in Maiduguri.
Maj.-Gen. Jack Nwogbo, the commander, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri.
“We went into action immediately after the incident and ransacked some flash points.
“We arrested about six suspects, and we have already begun screening them to determine whether they have cases to answer or not,’’ Nwogbo said.
He said eight people died at the blast which occurred in the evening.
On the arrest of former minister of the FCT, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, by the SSS on allegations of inciting, inflammatory and grossly misleading statements, Ogar said the service has no intension of prosecuting him, stating that, “it ended on a good note”.
She, however, declined further comments on the arrest of el-Rufai and his statement in the press that he would not be gagged.
Malam el-Rufai has described his meeting with the director-general of the SSS, Ita Ekpeyong, as a “friendly chat”, maintaining that his write-up was not personal, but the real situation facing Nigeria as a country.
el-Rufai had, on Monday in the company the publisher of ThisDay Newspapers, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, and his lawyer, A.U Mustapha, met with the SSS boss whose personnel detained the former minister on Saturday on his return from the United Kingdom at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Narrating to LEADERSHIP what transpired between, him and the SSS, El-Rufai said, “I was there on what they called friendly chat and we talked. He told me that President Goodluck Jonathan is my friend and he also is my friend because the SSS boss was the FCT SSS head when I was a minister. We have worked together. I agreed with him, but told him that my writings are not personal; rather they are what I felt is the real situation facing the country and which is out of the principle and for the good of the country and nothing more. Opposition cannot be muzzled in a democratic government, because it forms the basis of deepening the democracy.
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