BOKO HARAM DECLARES SSS DIRECTOR WANTED

The dreaded Islamist sect, Boko Haram, has placed N50 million reward for any member who kills Ms Marilyn Ogar, spokesperson of the Department of State Security (DSS).

Ms Ogar is an Assistant Director of the Service even as the Presidency is set to probe the release from detention of Mr. Ali Tishau, a self-acclaimed kingpin of Boko Haram.

The planned investigation is coming on the heels of alleged claims by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) that it had indeed, returned the suspect to the Police for custody and that it was denied the opportunity of having him back on a second request.

The request, dead or alive, was intercepted in a coded high-tech website of the dreaded . Boko Haram was successfully hacked into by the international intelligence community and accessed by their local counterparts. The demand for Ogar’s head, it was further learnt, was part of a robust action plan said to have been mapped out by the sect, including public infrastructure and other areas as well as individuals targeted for attack. However, attempts by Daily Sun to confirm if the report on the N50 million reward was from the authentic Boko Haram were futile by Press time.

Daily Sun reveals that the sect may have indeed made the monetary offer to get Ms. Ogar, before the SSS announced N25million reward for anyone with useful information that could lead to the arrest of Mamman Nur, the alleged mastermind of the United Nations (UN) House bombing in Abuja on August 26, 2011.
Though the circumstances could not be ascertained by Press time, repeated calls to Ogar’s mobile telephone line were not successful for about a week as it was said to be switched off until yesterday when Daily Sun was able to speak with her at about 10.38am.

However, Ms. Ogar feigned ignorance of the development when contacted. “How did you get the information? Well, I am just hearing about it from you, but I am neither the DG, SSS nor the DG, NIA, for anyone to place money on my head,” she told Daily Sun on Saturday, in a telephone chat.
But a top police officer who does not want his name in print, confirmed the report that Boko Haram placed monetary reward for the head of the SSS senior officer.

He was, however, quick to add that it was not peculiar to her, as several other top security officers and politicians had been threatened by Boko Haram.“Yes, it is true that they placed about N50million ransom on the woman’s head. We were contacted for assistance over the matter, as the woman was running from pillar to post. But I think there is nothing unusual about it. Boko Haram has threatened the Chief of Defence Staff; Boko Haram has threatened the Chief of Army Staff, attacked the Police headquarters in Abuja. The thing with them is that they threaten you when you talk about them, and the moment you stop, they leave you alone. We’ve been reading their website, and we see a lot of things they write about. But there is no cause for alarm”, he said.

On the planned probe of Tishau’s release, the Police authorities had announced on Friday, that it officially handed over Tishau to a sister security agency via a memo by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Alhaji Hafiz Ringim, dated July 7, 2011. Police said the action was based on a formal letter from the unnamed sister agency dated June 27, 2011, which requested the release of the suspect to it.
Police spokesman, DCP Olusola Amore, had said that the IGP acceded to the request in the spirit of sharing intelligence as it is customary in security circles. He was quick to add that the identity of the sister agency concerned would not be given for national interest.

Fingers were, however, unofficially pointed at the direction of the DIA, whose erstwhile chief, Major-General Babagana Munguno, allegedly made the request and eventually took over the custody of Tishau from the Police. But in a swift reaction, all the military intelligence chiefs denied having anything to do with the suspect. However, in a curious twist of events, fresh reports indicated that the DIA had admitted taking custody of the suspect from the Police after writing a formal request, but claimed it encountered several obstacles in the process, which were eventually surmounted with the intervention of a top security chief, who prevailed on the IGP to release Tishau to the former Chief of Defence Intelligence.

Following his release to the DIA, the suspect was said to have opened up on the activities of Boko Haram and allegedly claimed to have intimated the police authorities. Reports further said that topshots of security agencies were notified by the DIA on its encounter with Tishau, before he was returned to police custody.
But the bubble burst when the DIA reportedly asked for the suspect to be released to it a second time for further investigation, a request that was allegedly turned down by the Police whose spokesman, Amore, denied that Tishau was ever returned to their custody, talk less of the authorities receiving a second request for his release to the DIA

Sources told Daily Sun yesterday that the flurry of claims and denials amongst the security agencies, which had been further compounded by reports of the DIA’s eventual admission of taking custody of the suspect at a point in time from the police, has become a source of concern and embarrassment to the Presidency, which has resolved to diligently investigate the incident with a view to taking appropriate actions.-SUN