Detained Abdullahi
Ahmadu in DSS Custody
Detained Abdullahi
Ahmadu in DSS Custody
Citizen Ahmadu: ‘DSS Operative’ threatens to kill
informant, family
…It’s fake news, unbelievable says DSS Spokesman
The operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) have
allegedly threatened to kill the informant who exposed how the
agency detained a Nigerian citizen, Mr. Abdullahi Ahmadu, since
2013 without access to the court or family members.
PRNigeria[1] had last week reported
that one Mr. Afiz Jamiu, who met citizen Ahmadu while in DSS
custody between April 16 to May 10, 2019, deposed to an affidavit
testifying that the victim has been in the detention of the State
Secret Service (SSS) for all these years without trial, access to
family and friends as well as adequate medical attention.
But the expose which was widely reported in the media did not go
down well with some of the ‘DSS Operatives’, according to the phone
conversation obtained by PRNigeria[2] at the weekend.
In an over four minutes telephone chat with the informant’s
wife, one could hear a caller who posed as a DSS operative
threatening to deal with Jamiu for his indiscretion despite being a
beneficiary of assistance from the Service in the past.
The caller while speaking in broken English told the panicky
wife that her husband’s “act of foolishness” has not gone unnoticed
and should be prepared to face the consequences when the DSS
operatives come visiting.
According to him (alleged DSS Operative), Jamiu and his family
should prepare for what he described as a hellish experience until
death.
Here is the phone conversation:
‘DSS Operative’: I just say (sic) I should
pass information to you that you and your children will feel the
impact (of what is coming). As a matter of fact, from now till
Christmas, in one of the month, there will be an operation to
arrest your husband and any attempt he makes, there is an order to
gun him down. Shey (sic) you went to newspaper and saw your
husband’s name, right? He went and told them that the person that
he was in cell with has been detained for six years. Read Sahara
Reporters…, some newspapers carried it as well, that SSS detained a
person since 2013. The report claimed that Hafiz Jamiu told them
everything they knew. So as he has decided to expose and put SSS
for trouble, ‘so for him life completely na trouble him go enter
for him life till he die. He don enter the real trouble
(sic).’
Woman: Heey oh my God
‘DSS Operative’: First and foremost,….
secondly, he was just saying what he does not know about the DSS
and it has been published in newspapers. For this indiscretion, he
is going to face the tune. All these while I have gone out of my
way to help him out but now… if he survives what is coming then he
should go and give thanks to God. So, whatever happens to your
husband, you the wife will also bear the consequences. Let me tell
you…as he was quoted in the newspapers saying that he was with
Ahmadu from April to May, he has said everything he needs to say.
However, he cannot escape the consequences of what he has done as
the DSS Operatives will definitely come for him like a terrorist
that he will not even have the opportunity to go to cell this time
around. So he should continue saying what he does not know and this
time around if he makes any attempt at the point of arrest, they
(DSS) will shoot and kill him. ‘Your husband dey foolish…as I help
him life reach (sic)’.
Woman: I am not aware of this and they
warned him the very day they released him that he should shut up
his mouth.
Responding to the alleged threat, the DSS Spokesman, Mr. Peter
Afunanya, dismissed it as “fake news and unbelievable.”
According to Afunanya, the Service is a responsible organisation
that adheres strictly to the rule of law and standard operating
procedures.
“Does this sound believable? That DSS operatives threatened to
kill anyone is unfounded and such fake news and misinformation
should be disregarded in its entirety. The DSS is a responsible
organization and adheres strictly to rules of law and engagement
and democratic principles. It has Standard Operating Procedures on
all its activities; internal and external,” he said.
Already, Ahmadu’s continuous detention since August 20, 2013 is
being challenged in the Federal High Court Abuja in the suit No:
FHC/ABI/CS/645/2019 with the notice of application for order
enforcing his fundamental human rights in pursuant of the relevant
sections of the Nigerian constitution and of the African Charter on
Human and Peoples Rights.
In the substantive suit, the Counsel to the Plaintiff, Barrister
Ibrahim T. Hassan sought about six reliefs including a declaration
that the arrest and continuing detention of citizen Ahmadu since
2013 for “any reason or order of Court whatsoever, or for any
offence whatsoever without trial is unlawful, inhuman,
unconstitutional and an unjustifiable infraction of the Fundamental
Human Rights of the Applicant as enshrined and guaranteed under
Section 34 (1)(a) and 35(1) of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Articles 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
and 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights
(Ratification and Enforcement) Act CAP LFN 2004 respectively”