SSS quizzes el-Rufai at Lagos Airport

Posted by admin Latest Politics Wednesday, August 8th, 2012

FORMER Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, was on Wednesday quizzed at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport by State Security Service (SSS) personnel attached to the airport.

El-Rufai was billed to travel to Dubai for an undisclosed reason in an Emirates Airline when he was picked up for questioning.
According to information gathered, his international passport and air ticket were seized by the SSS officials.

The former minister was said to have been approached at the check-in area of the airport and was politely told that he could not travel, though he insisted he had an important meeting to attend in Dubai.

After being quizzed for over 15 minutes, his passport and ticket were later released to him so he could continue with his journey.

The reason for his delay could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report, but an SSS source disclosed that the interrogation of El-Rufai might not be unconnected with his strident criticism of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration in recent times, adding that he had been on the watch list of the government for over a year.

El-Rufai, in his Tweeter handle wrote, “I have just been stopped at Lagos Airport again by the SSS… I wonder what it is this time.

The SSS at the Lagos airport tell me they have orders to detain me and prevent me from travelling… the waiting game starts.

“Where is your boarding pass? This is your passport. You can go sir,” said the SSS Oga that is not in a black suit and not wearing dark goggles. So after some 15 minutes of fidgetting and unlawful detention, I am seated in the lounge and on my way to Dubai,” he wrote in his Twitter handle.

He also had harsh words for the security agencies which he described as ‘a joke’, adding that despite “secession in Ogoni, Boko Haram killings in Kogi, war-mongering by Dokubo, they do jack! But they have time for me.”

Meanwhile, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, on Wednesday, lambasted Mallam El-Rufai, over his call for the resignation of President Goodluck Jonathan if he (the president) could not solve the ongoing security challenges in the country.

He also advised former Vice Presidential candidate of the Congress for Progress Change (CPC), Pastor Tunde Bakare, to desist from using the pulpit for anti-President Goodluck Jonathan politics.

The former FCT Minister was reported to have made the remarks as violence escalated especially in the northern part of the country.

But speaking on Wednesday to State House correspondents, Dr Okupe warned against the manipulation of the present security situation in the country by politicians for selfish purposes.

He observed that insurgency as a phenomenon was difficult to resolve in places where it occurred around the world but noted that there were no calls on the leaders of those countries to resign on account of the terrorists activities.

According to him, “El-Rufai is my younger brother. I have so much respect for him but politics is more or less derailing or deranging him.

“Everybody knows that insurgency is a very difficult problem. It is not anything peculiar to Nigeria. No responsible citizen of any of those countries affected by insurgency before called on their presidents to resign.”

The SSA also faulted the former minister’s criticism of the president’s reliance on citizens for information on terrorist activities, saying that there is no better security in any country than by the people of the country. It is communal security that will help government and security agencies to root out insurgence.

“If people shield insurgents, they make the work of security agencies more difficult. Can President Goodluck Jonathan be in Borno and everywhere at the same time?”

He accused politicians of trying to cash in on the situation for their own personal gains, adding that: “I believe that people just want to play politics. All what you are hearing is just the manipulation of the present situation to suit their political purposes. I am sure that my brother, El-Rufai is hoping to become a presidential candidate of one of the parties very soon. What I will expect him to do with the level of intellect, intelligence and the resource that have been given and his own personal education is to come out with some reasonable plans, some suggestions, not just criticising government for criticising sake.

“If El-Rufai was President of Nigeria, what will he do? Or is he keeping that until when he becomes the president by which time the whole country would have been wiped off?

“When tragedy befalls a country, responsible men and women of that country forget partisanship and rally round their nation and try their best to help existing governments to tackle the problem. Once that is over, they go back to politics. This is not time for politics.

“People should disregard and discard whatever information they hear from them every man or woman who politicises this issue of Boko Haram. They are not serious-minded people.

“Pastor Bakare also falls into that category. It is shameful. You cannot convert the pulpit to a podium. If you want to be a politician, please come out.

“Pastor Bakare came into politics a few years ago and he became a vice presidential candidate of a major political party. Some of us have been in politics for 30 years and we did not even become a governor and we did not say the country must come down, that is unfair. It is unacceptable,” he declared.

via Tribunewp_posts