Posted by By Moses Falobi on
The Managing Director of Sanchhy Nig. Ltd., Chief (Mrs.) Sandra Duru, has cried out over what she described as illegal arrest and detention, along with her daughter, by operatives of the State Security Service (SSS).
The Managing Director of Sanchhy Nig. Ltd., Chief (Mrs.) Sandra Duru, has cried out over what she described as illegal arrest and detention, along with her daughter, by operatives of the State Security Service (SSS).
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), however, countered that she is a blackmailer who has a case to answer over allegations of duping importers.
Sandra, a consultant with SON, while speaking with journalists in Lagos, accused the Director-General of SON, Dr. John Akanya, of using the state apparatus against her, following her uncompromising stance against illegal deals going on at the SON.
According to her, 16 SSS operatives and a lady invaded her house at Gowon Estate, Egbeda, last Monday morning, ransacked the entire house and whisked her and her daughter away to the SSS office at Shangisha where they were detained till 11p.m. She alleged that the security agents also stormed her office at Allen Avenue and carted away many documents and computers.
Also she alleged that vital documents relating to her appointment as the SON consultant, passports and six phones were carted away from there home, adding that she and her drivers where brutalized before she was handcuffed and taken away.
Sandra averred that she was not informed of her offence until her lawyer came to meet her at the SSS office before they now brought out a petition purportedly written by Freight Forwarders Association alleging all sorts of illegal dealings including drug trafficking, arms smuggling and others.
The petition, she said, has been disowned in an interview with the National President and Secretary of Freight Forwarders Association of Nigeria, Chief Frank C. Ukon and Innocent F. E. D. Elum, who said that no such petition was written by the association, adding that no letter or memo goes out from the office of the association without the consent and signatures of both the president and the secretary.
She said she was embittered that she had written a petition to SSS against the SON and its managing director over alleged shady deals and corruption, but rather than act on the petition, they (SSS) were used against her. She also alleged that some dollars got missing when the SSS operatives ransacked her house.
Sandra, therefore, called on president Umaru Yar'Adua and other well meaning Nigerians to come to her aid before she is assassinated. In reaction to the allegation of Sandra, the Head of Public Relations of SON, Mr. Bola Rilwan Fashina, during a news briefing, on Wednesday, in Maryland, Lagos, said it was all blackmail.
He said Sandra was engaged as a consultant to SON based on her request and application that she was going to assist the SON in capacity building and helping in unmasking fraudulent importers and clearing agents who bring in substandard goods into this country. He said rather than do so, she turned around to connive with dubious importers and agents that bring in substandard products into the country.
Mr. Fashina alleged that she even went ahead to collect bribes ranging between N250,000 and N500,000 from dubious importers and agents whose containers were seized by the SON with the promise that the goods will be released. 'When the complaints got to us, we investigated and the allegations were true. So, we decided to terminate her appointment and she became annoyed and started running the Director-General of SON down.
'We do not have any hand in her arrest by the SSS. We believe that the people she duped petitioned the SSS. You can go to the SSS as journalists to investigate,' he said. A man believed to be a security operative, who also attended the press briefing, and identified himself as Alhaji Ali, said the lady is simply a blackmailer.
'If she has grudges with the SON, she should go to the court and sort herself out. Why is she using the press to run down an esteemed organization,' the Alhaji queried.