Senate gives NIA DG seven-day ultimatum to appear at plenary

The Senate has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Director General of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency Rufai Abubakar over the blacklisting of a Nigeria Sunny Ofehe by the agency and the Department of State Services.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics Privileges and Public Petition Senator Ayo Akinyelure gave the directive on Wednesday.

This was followed a petition by Ofehe’s lawyers led by Mr Frank Tietie.

According to Tietie, the NIA directed the DSS to blacklist Ofehe based on a 2009 petition against him, alleging that he defrauded unsuspecting people based in Nigeria and the Netherlands.

He said rather than charge his client to court, the DSS has continued to ridicule and harass him at Nigeria’s internation borders.

“The DSS, based on the directive from the office of the NIA, blacklisted my client thereby subjecting him to terrible harassment and ridicule by security agencies at Nigeria’s international borders since 2009.

“My client is based in the Netherlands and he has been coming and going out of Nigeria since he was blacklisted. Yet, no security agency had arrested and prosecuted him in any court of law because they know that the allegations against him were fabricated falsehoods.

“The faceless petitioner is attacking my client because he is a renowned global environmental rights activist who is exposing the false claims of the Anglo-Dutch oil firm in the Niger Delta region.

“This is highly unfortunate because the development had denied Nigeria, many investment opportunities because genuine investors from the Netherlands being brought to the country by my client had on many occasions, embarrassed by the security agencies at the point of entry.

“My client, therefore, had no option than to petition the Senate to seek justice and make the DSS remove his name for its security watch list”

The representative of the NIA was not at the session but a director with the DSS, who did not disclose his name, admitted that the right activist was blacklisted on June 3, 2009, following a directive, backed by a petition, to it by the NSA.

The DSS Director said the petitioners alleged that Ofehe swindled both the Dutch and Nigeria citizens.

Akinyelure therefore directed Abubakar, to appear before the committee and explain within seven days, why the rights activist was still being blacklisted since 2009 despite the fact that no criminal case had been established against him.