A Federal High Court in Abuja has permitted the Department of State Services (DSS) to detain a former terrorists’ negotiator, Tukur Mamu, for 60 more days.
Justice Nkeonye Maha gave the permission on Tuesday while granting an ex-parte motion moved by the counsel for the DSS, Ahmed Magaji.
Mamu, one of the leading negotiators for the release of victims of the train attack in Kaduna State, was arrested at Cairo International Airport, Egypt on his way to Saudi Arabia for lesser Hajj.
In the motion marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1617/2022 and dated September 12, the DSS urged the court to grant its reliefs to enable it to conclude its investigation on Mamu who had been leading the negotiation with the terrorists for the release of the Abuja-Kaduna train passengers kidnapped in March.
This followed the criticism by popular Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, to whom Mamu is an aide, who faulted the arrest of Mamu.
Gumi, at a religious gathering on Friday in Kaduna, had asked the security agency to charge Mamu to court if it had any evidence against him, rather than keeping him in custody.
But the DSS, in its reaction, said it would not be distracted by some skewed narratives in the media and requested to be left alone to concentrate on the ongoing investigations, the outcomes of which it said have remained ‘mindboggling’.
Mamu was intercepted on September 6 by INTERPOL at the Cairo International Airport in Egypt while trying to connect a flight to Saudi Arabia.
A day later, the security agency said he has since been taken into custody upon his return to the country.
It explained that the action followed a request by the military, law enforcement, and intelligence community to their foreign partners to bring back Mamu to the country to answer critical questions on ongoing investigations relating to some security matters in parts of the country.
