The Department of State Services (DSS) on Sunday warned against overzealous comments by sections of the public in view of issues relating to the arrest and investigation of Tukur Mamu, negotiator of victims kidnapped from a Kaduna-bound train in March.
In a statement, Peter Afunanya, Public Relations Officer, DSS, said the outcomes of the investigation have remained mindboggling so far, and requested the secret police be left alone to concentrate on the investigation.
“The Service wishes that it is not distracted with some of the skewed narratives pervading the media space.
“Instead, it requests to be left alone to concentrate on the ongoing investigations, the outcomes of which have remained mindboggling.
“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”, it said.
It would be recalled that Ahmad Gumi, a Kaduna-based Islamic scholar, has asked the DSS to either charge Tukur Mamu, publisher of Desert Herald, to a court or release him from detention.
Mamu, an aide to Ahmad Gumi, a popular Islamic cleric, negotiated the release of persons abducted on a train to Kaduna in March 2022. Gumi had said this during his weekly preaching at Sultan Bello Mosque on Saturday.
The cleric implored the secret service to take the publisher to court to face trial, adding that keeping him in custody is intimidating to his family.
“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,” Gumi was quoted 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 apologise to him to forget what happened.”
Last week Wednesday, Mamu was arrested at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, after he returned from Egypt, where he was detained on his way to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj.
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.
