SSS widens crackdown

Posted by admin Latest Politics Friday, March 11th, 2011

The State Security Service, SSS, is widening its ongoing crackdown on some political activists from the North following its invitation of one time Senate President, Iyorchia Ayu for questioning.

Also being sought by the SSS is the first Secretary of the Northern Leaders Political Forum, NPLF, Mallam Bashir Yusuf.

Two other NPLF operatives – Alhaji Bello Abdulkadir, its Secretary General, and Mallam Bibi Farouk, a secretariat staff – were the first to be invited for questioning by the security agency. Abdulkadir has since been released and said his meeting with the SSS was on account of his political opinions on zoning and other national issues, but definitely not about NPLF affairs.

Mallam Abdulkadir said: “It was not an arrest in the real sense of the word because I was invited by the men on Wednesday and I went there on my own. I was not detained per se. It was a friendly chat that lasted too long over my opinion on the zoning arrangement as published in some newspapers.

“We say zoning is an old issue but to them, it is not. they also asked questions about other national issues I wrote about in my articles. So really, it is nothing to do with NPLF. It’s personal and to me it’s really nothing.”

It was not immediately clear why Mr. Farouk was also invited. Their arrests came ahead of a meeting between the NPLF leadership and the political camp of President Jonathan on issues surrounding next month’s elections.

The Northern Political Leaders Forum had expressed dismay over the arrests saying they were in bad faith and put a question mark on President Goodluck Jonathan’s attempt for rapprochement with it (NPLF).
Dr. Ayu is understood to have agreed to honour the invitation on Monday.

*Poison scare
Saturday Vanguard gathered yesterday that the security agency is currently investigating an alleged plot to

“poison” President Goodluck Jonathan.
The investigation followed a petition about a certain meeting held in Kaduna on February 17, 2011 by some people yet to be named.

-Vanguardwp_posts