Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS) has said the outcome of its investigations of Tukur Mamu, the arrested Kaduna train hostage negotiator, has so far been mind boggling.
However, the service did not reveal details of the mind boggling findings in a statement it issued on Sunday evening cautioning the public to desist from making ‘overzealous comments’ about the the arrest and ongoing investigations of Mamu.
DSS, in the statement signed by Peter Afunanya, its public relations Officer said while cannot be distracted by the ‘skewed narratives pervading’ the media space on the arrest of Mamu, it should be allowed to complete the investigation of the self acclaimed hostage negotiator.
“Instead, it requests to be left alone to concentrate on the ongoing investigations, the outcomes of which have remained mind boggling.
“Meanwhile, the Service will cease further comments on the subject matter since the court will determine its course. Consequently, the public is hereby enjoined to desist from making unguarded utterances and await the court proceedings,” Afunaya said in the statement.
The DSS statement was obviously issued in reaction to criticism of DSS by Ahmad Gumi, a Kaduna-based Islamic scholar.
Gumi had described the continued detention of Mamu who was also his media consultant is an act of terrorism.
According to t reports, Gumi said this during his weekly preaching at Sultan Bello Mosque on Saturday.
He asked the DSS to either charge Mamu to a court or release him from detention.
“Take him to court to face trial. Keeping him in custody despite being a family man was just to intimidate him. This intimidation is also terrorism. Arresting people unjustly is also terrorism; just like the terrorists do by going to somebody’s house to kidnap him,” Daily Trust quoted Gumi as saying.
“How can we continue in this situation under a government that is about to wind up? Our hope is for them to finish successfully not in a bad light. It’s not about Tukur Mamu, you all know that whenever they arrest innocent people, I always talk, not to talk of someone that I know and I’m only advising the government to release him so that we can apologize to him to forget what happened.”
Mamu had negotiated the release of some of the passengers abducted by terrorists during attack on a train to Kaduna in March 2022.
However, on Wednesday, Mamu was arrested in Egypt on his way to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj and forced to return to Kano where he was arrested by operatives of DSS.
On Thursday, the DSS said security operatives found incriminating materials like military accoutrements and large amounts of different currencies in Mamu’s house and office.
But Mamu’s family had claimed the military accoutrements belong to Mamu’s nephew, who passed out from the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in 2019.
