Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah
Operatives
of the State Security Service have been directed by the Ministry of
Aviation to stay away from all the nation’s international airports.
The order, which was communicated to the SSS leadership a few weeks ago, was said to have shocked the operatives.
It was further gathered that the
directive by the ministry, which is headed by Ms Stella Oduah, might
affect the ability of the SSS to perform its duties of preventing,
detecting, and investigating threats of espionage, subversion, sabotage
and terrorist activities, especially at the airports.
Some of the international airports
are the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos; the Port
Harcourt International Airport, Port Harcourt; the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, Abuja; and the Mallam Aminu Kano International
Airport, Kano.
A top security source, who declined to
be named because he was not permitted to speak on the matter, confided
in one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday, that no reason was
given by the ministry for the order.
He said, “We are taking every step to
end terrorism in the country by scaling up our intelligence networks and
tightening security at all borders and airports, but the aviation
ministry, rather than complementing our efforts, is exposing the nation
to more risks by withdrawing SSS personnel from all international
airports for reasons best known to it.”
There were however indications on Sunday
that the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd), had been
informed about the development.
Our correspondents gathered that the
presence of the SSS operatives at airports had foiled many crimes and
planned importation of contrabands.
The SSS Deputy Director, Public
Relations, Marilyn Ogar, could not be reached for comments on Sunday as
she did not respond to calls to her mobile telephone line.
She also did not reply a text message sent to her.
The Ministry of Aviation refused to either confirm or deny the withdrawal of the SSS operatives from the airports.
When contacted, the Spokesperson for
aviation parastatals, Mr. Yakubu Dati, told one of our correspondents
that he would get back to him but never did as of 10pm on Sunday.
Similarly, senior officials of the
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria at the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, Abuja, refused to speak on the matter.
Efforts to get the reaction of the
Special Assistant to the Minister of Aviation on Media, Mr. Joe Obi,
were not successful. Obi terminated calls to his mobile telephone line
and also did not reply the text messages sent to him.
PUNCH
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