The All Progressive Congress (APC) has dismissed as ‘’hogwash’’ the so
called findings of the Department of State Services (DSS) following its raid on
the party’s offices in Lagos two months ago.
In a statement today issued by it s National Publicity Secretary,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party stated that the ‘’findings’’ presented by the
DSS to the media was a disservice to Nigerians and an embarrassment to all
intelligence gathering organization worldwide.
He also stated that the timing of the release of the findings was a plot
to distract the APC from its ongoing campaigns. Read full press release after the cut.
It called
disingenuous, flimsy, premeditated, partisan and an irritant the conclusion
that the APC had an ''articulated plan to inflate the party's membership data
as well as hack into INEC's voter registration database through the creation of
party membership forms and cards to match INEC's voters register across the
country''.
''First the
DSS and the PDP said the APC was cloning Permanent Voters Cards at the raided
office, without a shred of evidence. Now, after a 'painstaking' investigation,
the DSS has found out that the APC was only planning to inflate its membership
data and then hack into INEC's database. And this is the outcome of its
massive, months-long investigations?
''This would
have been funny if it were not from a primary domestic intelligence agency
saddled with a great responsibility. Can this wishy-washy report stand any
serious scrutiny? Can any serious intelligence gathering agency anywhere else
in the world take this report seriously? With these kinds of findings, one can
now understand why Boko Haram has continued to strike at times and places of
its own choosing without any prior knowledge by our all-powerful DSS.”
'The party
also drew attention to the presentation of the report by what it called “a
poorly-trained and highly-politicized spokesperson” of the DSS, which it said
worsened the so-called findings, questioning why the the spokesperson of a
national agency sound like a megaphone for the ruling party, freely castigating
the opposition spokesman and ''a number of uninformed members of the public''?
It noted
that the APC has always warned that Nigeria’s democracy is in a clear and
present danger, not just from desperate politicians, but also from institutions
of state that have compromised in their roles and resorted to crass lawlessness.
The DSS' 'findings' today, it said, has given the party another reason to
repeat this warning.
''While we
are willing to meet the DSS in court, we can confidently say that the
'confessions' extracted from the arrested persons, after they were subjected to
incredible acts of torture, cannot even stand in any court of law,'' APC said.
The party
recalled that in its statement of Dec. 5, 2014, it accused the DSS of resorting
to the use of torture to obtain forced confessions from those who were arrested
during the first raid on the party's Data Centre in Ikeja.
''In that
statement, we called the action of the DSS a contravention of the UN Convention
against Torture to which Nigeria is a signatory and a violation of the
citizens' fundamental human rights.
''We also
said the DSS shackled the hands and legs of those arrested and blindfolded them
while they were being taken to
Abuja. The arrested persons remained in chains even at the dark detention cell
where they were made to sleep on the bare floor for the 10 days they were
detained illegally.
''Guns were
pointed at their heads by DSS personnel who threatened to shoot them, while a
pregnant woman among those who were arrested was denied access to her drugs
even when she started bleeding due to the torture to which she was subjected by
the DSS. Now the DSS has confirmed what we said in that press statement. Is
anyone still surprised at the action of countries that are distancing
themselves from Nigeria over human rights violations?'' it queried.
APC said the
impending release of the 'great findings' by the DSS after its world class
investigations must have been the reason why the agency recently threatened it
would arrest any politician who makes inciting comments, adding: ''Apparently
the DSS needed to silence all so that no one will dare criticize its
earth-shaking 'findings'.''
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