The Chairman of Daar Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, was on Monday detained by the State Security Service in connection with Friday’s twin bombings in Abuja.
An SSS source said that Dokpesi, who is also the Director-General of the IBB campaign organisation, was invited by agents probing the bomb blasts but was not allowed to go home.
The source, who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the development, added that the Edo State-born business mogul had been quizzed and his statement taken by his interrogators.
Before the operative spoke, the SSS Assistant Director, Public Relations, Mr. Marilyn Ogar, had ealier told journalists at a news conference in Abuja, that nine suspects had been arrested for their alleged role in the blasts.
But Ogar did not say if Dokpesi, whose Daar Communications are the owners of African Independent Television and Raypower FM, was one of the nine suspects.
The SSS agents said that his collagues probing the attacks, were retrieving calls and text messages exchanged by all the bomb blast suspects.
According to him, some of the items found on the suspects informed the decision to invite Dokpesi.
He said, “We are retrieving calls and text details as well as investigating the interaction between the suspects and some highly-placed Nigerians.
“Some documents also found on the suspects were also considered suspicious enough to invite Dokpesi for interaction.
“We are interrogating him (Dokpesi) on the relationship between him and some of the suspects in our custody. We also want him to clarify what he knew about the explosions.
“He is undergoing intense interrogation alongside other suspects.
“We have obtained his statements but we will on Tuesday confront him with our preliminary findings which he has to respond to.
“But we are not going to release him until the conclusion of our investigation.”
The source added that the SSS, South African security agencies and “relevant airlines,” were also studying the manifests of Nigerians, who traveled to South Africa last week.
“We are awaiting some details from South African authorities on their own findings too,” he said.
The Director, Media and Communications of IBB Campaign Organisation, Mr. Kassim Afegbua, confirmed the detention of Dokpesi on Monday.
“Our DG (Director-General) was initially invited for interaction but he was later detained. We will soon issue an official statement on this,” Afegbua said.
He also claimed that there was another plan to abduct his eldest son, Raymond Dokpesi (Jnr.) and to cripple his business as a way of forcing him to support the candidacy of President Goodluck Jonathan.
The organisation’s Deputy Director-General, Senator Mamud Kanti-Bello, also confirmed the invitation. He said that Dokpesi’s family was worried and deeply concerned for his safety, health and his well being.
He therefore called for his immediate release and expressed concern at what he described as “the growing politics of intolerance, intimidation, coercion, persecution and harrassment in spite of thast vow commitment to the rule of law by the present administration.”
Ogar had earlier on Monday said that the arrested suspects whose identities were not disclosed, had direct links with the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, Mr. Henry Okah.
She claimed that the suspects were hired by prominent Nigerians to detonate the bombs.
Ogar restated that the casualties would have been higher but for the “effective security measure” put in place by security agents.
She added that eight operatives, including an Assistant Director, Staff Development, were among those that lost their lives. Five other operatives, according to her, are critically ill. She also said that all the security agencies were affected as they lost men in the blasts.
Ogar further explained that as soon as the SSS received intelligence report on September 28 that a terrorist attack was being planned to abort the country’s golden jubilee celebrations, the service commenced a joint operation with the military from 2.15 am to 6.30 am on Friday.
According to her, during the operation, seven cars that were abandoned at the SSS headquarters, near the Presidential Villa gate, the Eagle Square and around Apo Legislative quarters were towed away.
Ogar said that the agency also co-opted the Federal Road Safety and the Directorate of Road Traffic Services which went round the Federal Capital Territory and towed 65 abandoned vehicles to foil the plot to disrupt the celebrations.
She explained that out of the seven vehicles removed from the three arms zone, four were yet to be collected, adding that there was a strong suspicion that they (vehicles) were also to be used for the bombings.
The SSS spokesperson said that when the Plan A of the attackers was foiled, they attempted to penetrate the Eagle Square to plant explosives, but the service deployed hi-tech equipment which jammed their (explosives) detonation .
Ogar said she believed that the light rain on Friday morning provided the leeway for double parking along the Shehu Shagari Way, which the perpetrators exploited to gain access to park on the road.
The SSS official rejected accusations that security lapses were responsible for the explosions, insisiting that as far as she was concerned, there was effective security measure.
She said, “So far, nine arrests have been made and all have direct links to Henry Okah, the incident and some unscrupulous prominent elements in the society. Due to on-going investigations, the names of the suspects and their sponsors cannot be disclosed at this stage.
“I refuse to believe that the security measures put in place were not effective; they were very effective and that is why eight of the nine people that died were security men. These people sacrificed their lives for Nigeria and for anyone to say we didn’t do enough is callous.”
Asked if the agency collaborated with the Police, she said that it was not her desire to apportion blames.
Okah was, however, arraigned on Monday on charges of terrorism, in connection with the Friday bombings in Abuja.
A South African prosecutors told a Johannesburg Regional Court that Okah was directly involved in deadly bombings in Abuja.
Source: http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201010052314282
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