A former negotiator for terrorists and aide to Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, Tukur Mamu has been accused by the Department of State Service (DSS) of providing support for criminals and terrorists.
The claims were made in an affidavit submitted by the SSS with an ex parte motion marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1617/2022 before Justice Nkeonye Maha of the Abuja Federal High Court.
On Tuesday, Justice Maha granted a request by the SSS, represented by his attorney Ahmed Magaji, to extend the 60 days that Mr. Mamu, an adviser to a prominent Muslim leader named Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, had been in detention.
“Preliminary inquiry so far established, among other things, the offenses of the logistic provider, aiding and abetting acts of terrorism, and terrorism financing against him,” the SSS stated in the court statement.
It detailed how Mamu, a Northern-based writer and publisher of the Desert Herald, had used his publication as a front for funneling money to terrorist organizations on both the global and local levels.
The SSS further claims that Mr. Mamu communicated with terrorist organizations, leading to a rise in bandit attacks around the country.
That Mamu, under the guise of being a journalist, has helped terrorist organizations both at home and abroad. It was asserted in the affidavit that the defendant’s actions were responsible for the premature deaths of several security personnel in the north-central and north-eastern regions of Nigeria.
Moreover, it stated, “That the defendant has secretly given multiple information to bandits and terrorists that increased various acts of terrorism in Nigeria.”
The SSS added, “the probe has gained a broader dimension and sophistication requiring time and specialized expertise to conclude.”
Mr. Mamu negotiated with the kidnappers of the March kidnapped passengers on the Abuja-Kaduna train. But on September 6th, while on his way to Saudi Arabia for the lesser Hajj, Egyptian officials arrested him and sent him back to Nigeria.
The SSS claimed that once he was apprehended and brought back to Nigeria, a search warrant was conducted at his home and workplace (at No. 4, Ali Ladan Street, Sabon Kawo GRA and No. 14, Mamona Road, Anguwan Sarki, Kaduna State) and that evidence of his involvement with terrorists was found.
Supposedly, the secret police discovered $151 in cash, £20 in British currency, 1,530 Indian rupees, one Saudi riyal, 70 dirhams, N 1,506,00, and 16 foreign coins in Mr. Mamu’s house and office. The SSS also found three passports, 24 phones, six computers, four tablets, and two packs of pump-action cartridges from both domestic and international banks.
The SSS also reported finding and seizing one firearm license, eight Nigerian Army uniforms, and sixteen Nigerian Navy uniforms.