Jonathan's NSA Houses in Abuja and Sokoto Under DSS Siege

The Operatives of the State Security Service, also called  have confirmed that the immediate past National Security Adviser, NSA, Sambo Dasuki, and all persons at his residence, are under house arrest. 

The two houses of the former NSA, one in Abuja and another in Sokoto, have been under siege by SSS operatives since Thursday.

It has been confirmed that among those inside the Abuja home of the former NSA is a retired Colonel, Bello Fadile, who worked as an aide to Mr. Sambo while he served as NSA. Premium Times reports that Mr. Fadile was visiting Mr. Sambo when the SSS personnel took over the property.

Mr. Ayodele Peter Fayose is Governor-Elect of Ekiti State - INEC

"That Ayodele Peter Fayose of PDP having fulfilled requirements of the law & got the highest votes is the winner and is returned elected"- Prof. Isaac Uzoma, Returning Officer.

Mr. Peter Ayodele Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been Governor elect of Ekiti state. 

Professor Azuzu said “we have come to the grand finale of this exercise and here is the breakdown of the final result. Accord-268, AA–146, AA–146, APC-120433, AD–843, CPP-967, LP 18125‎, KOWA –222, CPP–967, PDP-20309‎0, MPPP- 137, NCP–322, PDC–921, PPA–1050, SDP–65, UDP-67

The Returning Officer for the 2014 governorship elections and Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Oye- Ekiti, Professor Isaac Azuzu announced the results of the governorship elections in Ekiti State declaring the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Mr Ayodele Fayose, who was governor of Ekiti State from 29 May 2003 to 16 October 2006, winner of the contest.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole orders demolition of kidnappers’ den in Benin

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State on Wednesday ordered the demolition of a block of four flats identified as a hideout of kidnappers in the state, which he would supervise by himself.

Oshiomhole, who gave the directive when four suspected kidnappers were paraded before him by officers of the State Security service, SSS, in Benin, said that the den of kidnappers located along Sapele Road in Benin City would be destroyed according to the dictates of the law. “I am obliged to obey the directive of the law, which is that any property used for kidnapping has to be brought down.

FG Flaunt Court Order, blocks Lamido Sanusi from travelling abroad; seizes his passport again

Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services, alias SSS, on Saturday night blocked the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, from boarding a Turkish airline flight for a planned trip to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj, a witness and a spokesperson for Mr. Sanusi have toldJournalists.

Operatives of the SSS based at the Aminu Kano International Airport also seized Mr. Sanusi’s passport and told him they would not allow him to travel abroad unless they received clearance from their Abuja headquarters, this newspaper learnt.

The SSS’ action however appears a contravention of the April 3 judgment of a Federal High Court in Lagos, which restrained the agency and the Nigeria Police from arresting or harassing the CBN Governor or seizing his passport.

Bomb explosions near University of Maiduguri keep students, staff awake - PREMIUM TIMES

Thunderous sounds suspected to be from bomb explosions and continuous shooting around the University of Maiduguri  scared students and staff on campus all Friday night. Many of the students and staff stayed awake till dawn.

‪The explosion, according to PREMIUM TIMES checks, started at about 2 a.m.‬

‪Some students said the sounds woke them up, while those that were awake and reading for the ongoing second semester exams said they were terrified.‬

‪A 200-level student of the University,  Halima Abdul,  told PREMIUM TIMES on phone that “we don’t know from where the explosion and shooting occurred and we could not even run because it is dark and dangerous to do so. It happened around 2 a.m.; I was not asleep then”.‬

‪Halima said the university’s Dean of Students Affairs visited them in the hostel in the early hours of Saturday to assure them of safety, even as he warned of dangers in trying to run from the school.‬

‪A security official who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES but asked not to be named because it was not his role to speak to the press said the shooting had nothing to do with the university. He said the shooting occurred in two villages about 12km away from university campus.‬

How Security Insensitivity cause Abuja Bomb Explosion; Boko Haram Already in control of Nigeria system

Post by Abiola Oludele.

Sanusi V FG: SSS ‘disappointed’ with Court judgment, vows to appeal

The Department of the State Security Service, SSS, has expressed its “disappointment and dissatisfaction” with Thursday’s judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos, restraining it from further harassment of Lamido Sanusi, the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.  In a statement in Abuja, Friday, the SSS said that it would appeal the judgment because it had acted under the law in detaining Mr. Sanusi and seizing his international passport.

“It is therefore necessary to state that in impounding the passport of Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Service acted in accordance with the law,”  Marilyn Ogar, the Spokesperson of the SSS said in the statement..

You Can't Iinvestigate Sanusi Now: Court Tells Financial Reporting Council, CBN

You Can't  Iinvestigate Sanusi Now: Court Tells Financial Reporting Council, CBN

Again, a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has on Friday gives a preservatory order banning the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, FRCN, from investigating the suspended Central Bank Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi. Justice J.T. Tsoho gave the order on Friday in a suit filed by Mr. Sanusi through his counsel, Kola Awodehin.

Friday’s order comes 24 hours after a separate court ruled that Mr. Sanusi was illegally detained and his passport illegally seized by the Department of State Security Service, SSS, after his suspension. The court ordered the payment of N50 million damages to Mr. Sanusi.

Court barred the FRCN from investigating Mr. Sanusi and the Central Bank, CBN, pending the determination of the suit. Sanusi had on March 27 refused to appear before the Council which was investigating allegations of financial recklessness against the CBN boss.

Senator Olubunmi Adetunmb - "President Jonathan: It is time to halt the fiddling"

“The President has spent a great part of the current year junketing across the globe with public funds in needless ventures that could have been handled by subordinates in government.”

In the classic, Quo Vadis, a 1951 American epic film adapted from Henryk Sienkiewicz’s classic 1896 masterpiece, Emperor Nero is said to have played the fiddle while Rome burned. 

The most contemporary parallel of that fable is perhaps the tenure of Nigerian president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. 
The allusion to the ancient Roman leader who according to legend played his fiddle while Rome burned may not be misplaced when juxtaposed with the disconcerting happenings in the polity especially in the security sector and the reaction of the Jonathan led administration.

Former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar described it as ‘mind-boggling’ in a recent interview. The killings at the headquarters of the State Security Service, SSS, a stone throw from the Presidential villa, as a result of an alleged jailbreak clearly shows the huge security challenges the present administration is currently facing.

BREAKING NEWS: Gunfire exchanges at Abuja SSS headquarters - Premium Times

Heavy gunfire around presidential villa, SSS Yellow House headquarters

There have been heavy gunfire exchanges around the vicinity of Nigeria’s presidential palace and the headquarters of the Department of State Services in the Asokoro District of  Abuja in the past one hour, security sources and residents of the area said.

The expansive headquarters of the State Security Service, popularly known as Yellow House, is almost adjacent one of the remote gates of the presidential villa.

Residents of the nearby Aso Drive Area said the gunshots were either coming out of the SSS headquarters or the presidential villa.

El-Rufai finally secures warrant of arrest from SSS

State Security Service, SSS, has finally secured a warrant of arrest for the Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Nasir El-Rufai, and has now launched a manhunt for him, the spokesperson for the agency has said. The armed operatives of the Service has again stormed a second house in Abuja believed to belong to the former minister in their desperate bid to arrest him.

They had earlier in the afternoon invaded his first house in the Maitama District of the nation’s capital, but could not find him as he had reportedly gone to pick his children from school. They were said to have tried to force their way in to arrest the former minister.

In the latest siege on another property, also in the Maitama District, the operatives were said to have beaten up some private guards for refusing them entry.

The spokesperson of the SSS, Marylyn Ogar, confirmed that the operatives visited Mr. El-Rufai’s second house to arrest him, but denied that anyone was beaten.

“I hate cheap blackmail,” Ms. Ogar told Premium Times on telephone. “We went to the first place, nobody was beaten up. How will we go to the second place and beat people up?”

She explained that the SSS got an arrest warrant demanded by Mr. El-Rufai, but could not find him to personally serve him the document.
“We extended a friendly invitation to him,” the SSS spokesperson said. “He was invited honourably to come and make some explanations about the comments attributed to him.
“He said he wanted an arrest warrant. We have now obtained that from a competent court and we are wondering why he is running.
“We want to serve it on him. Or is there any Nigerian that is above the law?
“The president has said his ambition is not worth any Nigerian’s blood. So why will anyone else be making provocative statements?”

The manhunt for the former minister followed his refusal to honour an invitation from the SSS on Thursday.

He cited his pending suit against the Service over his detention in a hotel in Awka during the Anambra State Governorship last November 16 as the reason for refusing to honour the invitation.
Mr. El-Rufai also insisted on seeing a warrant of arrest before he could go to the SSS office.
The invitation of the APC chief was in connection with his remarks at a conference in Abuja on Wednesday that there might be violence if the 2015 general elections were not credible.

Meanwhile, Mr. El-Rufai, in statement by his media advisor, Muyiwa Adekeye, on Friday, confirmed that armed SSS officials stormed his home in Abuja following his rejection of the attempt by the organization to compel him to report at their office without a valid warrant.

The statement said the former minister had on Thursday firmly told the Director General of SSS that he would be exercising his right not to go to the SSS offices except a warrant mandates him and offered to meet the SSS officials in his home or office.

“The armed invasion of his house is a clear indication that the SSS imagines itself as an agency immune from respecting fundamental rights, behaviour akin to a gathering of toughs before whom every citizen must quake,” the statement said.

“The SSS agents did not produce any warrant to back their invasion of his premises.
“The assault on El-Rufai’s house continues a sorry tradition of serial violation of his rights by the SSS which has arrested him at airports and hotels.

“The most recent was the action of the SSS in violating his right to freedom of movement in Awka during the Anambra elections. Without any just cause or formal charge, the Directorate of State Security Services (SSS) had unlawfully detained El Rufai, the Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the premises of Finotel Hotel, Akwa, Anambra State, from the 15th day of November, 2013 to the 16th day of November, 2013.”

The statement said during the period, Mr. El-Rufai was not only restricted to the hotel, he was denied access to his congregational prayer as a devout Muslim, and kept incommunicado without access to anyone and or the press.

It stated that in order to remedy the flagrant violation of his fundamental rights as enshrined in sections 35, 39, 40 and 41 of the Constitution, the former minister sued the SSS, seeking eight reliefs, including an injunction to restrain the SSS from further infringing on his fundamental right

PREMIUMTIMES

Security Operatives Storm El-Rufai’s Abuja Home, Force Their Aay In To Arrest The Former Minister Of Federal Capital Territory

Armed operatives of the Department of State Security Service  are currently at the Abuja  residence of a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir El-Rufai, trying to force their way in to arrest the former minister, Mr. El-Rufai has told PREMIUM TIMES.

The operatives did not produce any arrest warrant, the former minister said.

Mr. El-Rufai is currently not at home but he said he would rush back home after picking his children from school.

The SSS had on Thursday invited Mr. El-Rufai,  the Deputy National Secretary of the opposition All Progressives Congress [APC] in connection with a statement credited to him that there might be violence if the 2015 general elections were not free and fair.

The former minister made the comment while speaking at the Transformed to Transform, T2T Nigeria, Conference and Career Fair, a leadership and empowerment initiative for the National Youth Service Corps members in Abuja on Wednesday.

He was reported to have said the 2015 elections could be marred by riots and other forms of violence that might lead to loss of lives and properties unless the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the security agencies ensured they were free.

The former minister however refused to respond to the SSS’ invitation on the ground that he had a pending suit against the agency over his detention in a hotel in Awka, Anambra State,  during the governorship election in that state last November 16.

He also told the Director General of the Service, Ita Ekpeyong, that he was willing to meet with him in his home or office or that in the alternative the SSS should produce a warrant of arrest.

Spokesperson of the SSS, Marylyn Ogar, declined comments when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday night.

But she had earlier issued a statement Thursday warning those making provocative statements ahead of the 2015 general election to desist from such or face the full weight of the law.

Ms. Ogar said the attention of the service had been drawn to incessant provocation statements by some Nigerians threatening violence ahead of the election. She did not mention any name

“Such comments are offensive, misguided and directed at stirring hate among Nigerians,” she said.

“This service and other law enforcement agencies have the mandate to protect the country and its citizens.

“We, therefore, warn all subversive elements that are bent on promoting divisive and disruptive agenda to refrain from such as the full weight of the law shall henceforth be brought to bear accordingly.”

She urged Nigerians to remain law abiding and assist security agencies in ensuring the safety of all