Jos — A family of three and a police officer in the Laranto neighbourhood of Jos-North Local Government Area of Plateau State have petitioned the National Security Adviser (NSA) over what they called gross violation of their rights by officials of the Plateau State Command of Department of State Security (DSS) and are demanding N.1 billion as compensation.

Alhaji Ibrahim Mohammed and two of his daughters, Rukaiya and Hauwa aged 20 and 13 respectively, and a police officer, Sergeant Samaila Ahmad, were arrested by DSS officials last month and kept in detention for one week on a charge of terrorism, a development which came days after some youths were accused of raping Ibrahim Muhammed’s 13-year-old daughter, Hauwa

Jos — A family of three and a police officer in the Laranto neighbourhood of Jos-North Local Government Area of Plateau State have petitioned the National Security Adviser (NSA) over what they called gross violation of their rights by officials of the Plateau State Command of Department of State Security (DSS) and are demanding N.1 billion as compensation.

Alhaji Ibrahim Mohammed and two of his daughters, Rukaiya and Hauwa aged 20 and 13 respectively, and a police officer, Sergeant Samaila Ahmad, were arrested by DSS officials last month and kept in detention for one week on a charge of terrorism, a development which came days after some youths were accused of raping Ibrahim Muhammed’s 13-year-old daughter, Hauwa.

The rape suspects; Nuhu Muhammed, Munzali Mani and Muhammad Idris, allegedly abducted and raped the teenage girl in November 2014, as a result of which they were arrested, charged to court and later granted bail. Counsel to the complainants, Barrister Akibu Idris, whose ABC Attorneys Chamber wrote the complainants’ petition to the NSA, stated that after their release on December 29, 2014, the rape suspects “did all they could to persuade the family of Ibrahim Mohammed to withdraw his complaint against them but he refused,” and that because of Muhammad’s refusal, “the accused persons vowed to deal with him and his entire family.”

According to the petition, some officers of the Plateau State Command of DSS arrested Ibrahim Mohammed in his shop in Laranto, apprehended his two teenage daughters from his house, and picked up Sgt Samaila Ahmed from his Laranto residence on January 6, 2015, even after searching and finding nothing incriminating against them, and were kept in detention until the DSS released them on January 15 after intervention from National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

The petition further states that the Director of State Security Services in Plateau State, Tunde Ajanaku, addressed a press conference on the 15th of January before the complainants were released, “absolving them” of terrorism charges.

In part, the petition reads: “It is our contention that the oppressive manner in which the State Security Service officers arrested our clients, tortured them and denied them access to their counsel violated their rights as citizens of Nigeria and is illegal, unconstitutional, null, void and of no effect. That, it is also our contention that the action in its entirety was ill-conceived with the aim of subverting the course of justice in the pending rape case. We urge the National Security Adviser to view the foregoing and cause the sum of N.1 billion to be paid to the complainants, Ibrahim Muhammad, his two daughters, and Samaila Ahmad.”

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Family Arrested By SS on Terrorism Charges in Plateau Demands N.1 Billion As Damages