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| SSS Spokeperson, Ms Merilyn Ogar |
Indications emerged yesterday
that the Department of State Security Service (SSS) had started processes of
securing its records following the publication of records of some of its
personnel by suspected members of the militant Islamist sect, Boko Haram.
that the Department of State Security Service (SSS) had started processes of
securing its records following the publication of records of some of its
personnel by suspected members of the militant Islamist sect, Boko Haram.
Records of former and current
members of the Service, including home addresses and names of immediate family
members of over 60 past and current employees, were allegedly published with
death threat messages in a report by the Associated Press.
members of the Service, including home addresses and names of immediate family
members of over 60 past and current employees, were allegedly published with
death threat messages in a report by the Associated Press.
However, spokesperson of the
SSS, Ms. Marilyn Ogar, Deputy Director, Media and Publicity, in a telephone
chat with our correspondent, said the Service was unaware of the “purported
internet publication,” and wondered why the AP waited after a week that the
report was published and removed to make it known.
Ogar said it could be part of
the wider plans to smear the effort of the Service and appealed to Nigerians to
be wary of such reports.
the wider plans to smear the effort of the Service and appealed to Nigerians to
be wary of such reports.
The publication which also had
information on the SSS Director General, Ita Ekpeyong, including his mobile
phone number, bank account particulars and contact information for his son,
were said to have been available on the Internet for days.
information on the SSS Director General, Ita Ekpeyong, including his mobile
phone number, bank account particulars and contact information for his son,
were said to have been available on the Internet for days.
The security breach, Blueprint checks revealed, has reinforced the
widely held impression that the intelligence community were at a loss over how
to confront the security challenges in the country.
widely held impression that the intelligence community were at a loss over how
to confront the security challenges in the country.
This has also reinforced the
perception that members of the sect may have infiltrated the security agencies
with access to firsthand information on personnel and strategy, making it even
more difficult to resolve the current insecurity.
perception that members of the sect may have infiltrated the security agencies
with access to firsthand information on personnel and strategy, making it even
more difficult to resolve the current insecurity.
A senior security personnel,
who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, expressed disbelief
that the safety of security personnel could be so easily compromised even as he
acknowledged that efforts were on to prevent further compromise of security
personnel not only also in the SSS but other sister agencies.
who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, expressed disbelief
that the safety of security personnel could be so easily compromised even as he
acknowledged that efforts were on to prevent further compromise of security
personnel not only also in the SSS but other sister agencies.
