Plans to revoke my passport
It is no longer news that the State Security Service (SSS) arrested me at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on October 18, as I arrived from the United States of America for a two weeks visit to Nigeria. While the SSS claimed, through their spokesman, that I was released five days earlier, I was actually released to Chuks Muoma SAN, twelve days after they locked me up.
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On the sixth day of my arrest, a director of the SSS, (they call him DE or DO) came to my cell and told me to give him a number to call for somebody to come take me on bail. I told him I could not give him any phone numbers from memory as all the numbers I know are stored on my phones. He instructed another officer to retrieve my phones from their custody so that I can give them a number. I did not see this officer until about 11:00 am the next day.
He came to my cell with 3 other officers and two of my mobile phones. None of the phones had the information I needed. And I recalled the gamut of emotions I went through the previous day and the disappointment I felt after it dawned on me that the director had played yet another game on me. At that point I decided I did not wish to be bailed. About four hours later another set of men came to my cell and announced to me that I had been released and I was free to go.
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I did not believe them and I was right. I did not see my stuff which they ‘arrested’ with me. I was taken to DE or DO’s office and kept in a room for about 20 minutes. I was bundled into a car thereafter and they sped off. I suspected they were taking me to a police station, although there was the sneaky feeling they may have decided to ‘waste me.’ It was when they turned into the road leading to the offices of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that I realized what the game plan was. I was kept in the EFCC cell from Friday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon the next week. The EFCC also ‘released’ me to SSS.
Back in my old cell at SSS headquarters that evening I was again informed that my jailers would let me go the next day. For the first time they mentioned the name of my lawyer. This time I believed them. The next morning being a Wednesday I was ‘released’ to Chuks Muoma SAN. However, the luggage I came with from the States was not released to me. I was asked to come the next day to collect them but this did not happen until Friday, 2 days later.
They released my luggage except for my Nigerian passport, all my mobile phones (4), all my flash drives (3) and my laptop. I asked when these would be released to me and they told me to apply for them. My lawyer, Ugo Muoma, wrote an application for the release of my personal items. We were given appointments that were never kept by the SSS. On one occasion we were told that the SSS could not attend to us because the officer in charge had gone to Lagos with the then visiting President of Germany.
Since then my lawyer has written letters to the SSS to release my passport and other belongings. We have gotten the run around. On one occasion the DE or DO told my lawyer that they will release my laptop, flash drives and phones but that my passport would not be released. The SSS officer told my lawyer that my Nigerian passport is the property of the Federal Government of Nigeria and that he was going to revoke it. Apparently he was upset that my lawyer had written too many ‘letters’ to the Director General of SSS, Afrikerya Gadzama.
I laughed when my lawyer reported this to me. Even then I was also worried. Although there are two Appeal Court rulings which clearly state that once issued, a passport becomes the property of the individual, the SSS under Gadzama has become a law unto itself. The fact that a very senior officer would be so cavalier about my Nigerian citizenship was frightening. Was it possible that a director of the SSS did not know that revoking my passport has the same effect as revoking my Nigerian citizenship?
This puzzle was even made more serious when a security source told me that the director who told my lawyer this ridiculous story could not be acting alone. The source said that for a director of SSS to withhold my passport after my release could only mean that he was working with the approval of the DG,SSS.
Naturally one would be surprised at this but not if you have heard the things I have been told since I left detention. Soon after I left detention I was informed by a very reliable source that the instruction was to detain me for at least a week, not minding the rule of law mantra of the Yar’Adua Administration. There were also plans, I am told, to arraign me before an SSS ‘friendly Judge’ or Magistrate for treason, money laundering or any offence they could throw at me. They targeted a Judge I wrote about his properties in the Maitama district to do their dirty work. I am not aware that this Judge agreed or was even approached with this plan.
However, I have been told that there are other options if I make too ‘much noise’ or drag the SSS to court. These options include quickly arraigning me in court or re-arresting on some spurious charges. I have been told by several people that I am under surveillance. My response is always the same: “Of course I know. That’s why I’m confident that nothing will happen to me with all the eyes watching me!”
Another option that has been mentioned by several people is what they described as making me an “American problem.” The idea, I am told, is to plant banned substances or arms in my checked in luggage so that I will be arrested for drug trafficking or gun running if and when I enter another country. If everything fails there is always the option of ‘wasting’ me. I have informed my family and friends about this plan. I am using this medium to inform Nigerians and indeed the world that the government of the only country I have is hard at work trying to destroy me at all cost for doing my legitimate job.
Effectively, since I left my house in the United States on Friday October 17, 2008, I have not had access to my work tools. What it means is that the Nigerian government, in addition to depriving me of my freedom of movement since October 18th has also ensured that I do not work as a journalist or earn a living as a PR consultant. I have missed two doctor’s appointments. I did not cover the US elections which I had planned to do. My arrest meant the cancellation of a show which I had paid artists for. It also meant postponing or cancelling two documentary films I had been working on.
This government has peddled all kinds of rumors about me, including circulating documents of my so-called properties in the United States and elsewhere. They have also circulated some names of my so-called associates. The names on the list are strange to me.
I have instructed my lawyers to sue the SSS. I am also exploring ways of suing some of my jailers personally outside this country. One thing is for sure, if this government attempts to take me further down or ‘waste’ me like they plan, I will not go quietly. I am a Nigerian and I have rights!
Email: [email protected]
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