Posted by By LUCKY NWANKWERE and FRANCIS AWOWOLE-BROWNE, Abuja on
Operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) on Tuesday raided the Asokoro, Abuja office of the National Development Project (NDP) which serves as a political resource centre of Vice President Atiku Abubakar's campaign organisation.
Operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) on Tuesday raided the Asokoro, Abuja office of the National Development Project (NDP) which serves as a political resource centre of Vice President Atiku Abubakar's campaign organisation.
The security agency said there was no political motive behind its action.
The centre, invaded at about 6.00am, is coordinated by a political associate of Atiku and member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Usman Bugaje, who is a critic of the Obasanjo administration.
Bugaje was said to away from the office at the time of the raid.
A statement signed by the vice president's chief media consultant, Mallam Garba Shehu, said during the raid, the security men seized an American, Mr. Rehan L. Iftikhar, said to be an intern in the office and took away computer hardware and files containing documents.
It said the American's temporary abode in the guest wing of the centre was turned upside down and all his electronic gadgets taken along as the SSS operatives arrested him.
According to the statement, details of the items removed, included files and documents mostly concerning the on-going probe of Independent National Electoral Commission's (INEC) finances by the House of Representatives Committees on Finance, INEC and that on Appropriation, of which Dr Bugaje is a member.
Also during the raid, the security operatives, who were said to have used their gadgets to break open the offices, allegedly emptied all the table drawers and removed a briefcase, two CPUs as well as two lap-tops.
"Mr. Iftikhar, who was arrested, is a graduate student and an I.T. specialist at the University of California, Santa Cruz U.S.A. and is in Nigeria under the "Global Internship International Programme. Under the programme, the intern was seconded to Nigeria to help non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with their websites and training on internet skills," the statement noted.
Shehu said a cook, named Matthew, was slapped in the face before he was forced to sign an inventory of the items the security men took away, adding that the seized American intern is incidentally on a visit to Nigeria on a programme connected to good governance audit.
Speaking on the raid, SSS spokesman, Mr Ado Muazu, told Daily Sun that the agency acted on a petition from neighbours of the resource centre.
Muazu said the American had been released, adding that there was no political motive behind the raid and the arrest, but that it was a reaction to public petition.
He explained that the SSS received a petition alleging clandestine gathering and meeting at odd hours by some people with some foreigners of American origin with links with Saudi-Arabia, which they suspected, could be detrimental to their peace and that of the nation.
Muazu said the SSS operatives swooped on the office described in the petition, which incidentally happened to be the campaign office of the vice president.
"It is true that the office was raided and the man arrested. After questioning him and the documents seized from the office examined, we handed them back to him and we asked him to go," he told Daily Sun.