Nigerian Times

Nigeria Secret Police: The problems in Domestic Intelligence ~ By John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D. The various entities that are concerned with domestic intelligence matters the State Security Service (SSS) especially are faced with unusual challenges in today’s Nigeria. The State Secret Service and other national intelligence agencies in their collective capacity, remain as the main eyes protecting various essential blind spots in our society as they relate to the safety and wellbeing of our citizens, everyone and everything representing the government’s interest. Currently, as a people, we have become a more security-conscious society and consequently very concerned about terrorist-related crimes, and this has contributed to the increasing demand for a better output from our intelligence, security and law enforcement agents. In terms of technological weapons and equipment much progress has being made within these agencies with the arming of agents with powerful assault rifles. With the p...

13 Oct 2011 08:56 Africa/Lagos Nigeria police arrest six journalists NEW YORK, October 13, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Police in Nigeria arrested six journalists and one staff member from independent daily The Nation on Tuesday concerning the publication of a purported private letter from former head of state Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan about administrators of government agencies, local journalists reported. On the front page of its October 4 edition, The Nation published a letter, allegedly written by Obasanjo, that recommended Jonathan replace five CEOs of several government agencies, news reports said. Obasanjo filed a complaint last week, accusing the newspaper of publishing the letter with a forgery of his signature, Olusola Amore, the national police spokesman, told CPJ. The Nation, widely perceived as an opposition paper, said in a statement that they stand by their story and the letter's authenticity. On Tuesday afternoon, detectives raide...

A Catalog of Pastors Deaths by Boko Haram Militants As anxiety is mounting over the activities of Boko Haram group, some Muslims are defusing the fear as misplaced. They see the group as only a new breed of young Muslim activists who have aggressively embraced a stricter version of Islam, rejecting anything Western and Christian. Boko Haram began life as a peaceful group focused on the study of the Koran, according to Abdulmumin Sa’ad, a Muslim scholar and professor of Sociology at the University of Maiduguri. “The idea was that there is a lot of sin in the larger society and their parents had amassed a lot of ill-gotten wealth,” says Sa’ad, who taught some of the militants. “There is widespread immorality, and so the best thing to do is to remove themselves and camp elsewhere, where they can concentrate on their religion, mediate, reach out and begin to form a fellowship.” Sa’ad claims that group turned violent when authorities harassed it. In retaliation, the group had killed about 1...