Nigeria is opening a secret detention centre to hold and interrogate suspected high-level members of the Boko Haram sect allegedly responsible for several suicide bomb attacks which has resulted in the death of hundreds of people with thousands more injured.
LEADERSHIP learnt that this may not be unconnected with the recent jail breaks in some conventional prisons where members of the sect had escaped. Associated Press (AP) also reports that a security official confirmed the development to it, saying that the secret detention centre would forestall future jail breaks by the sect.
Incidents of jail breaks which reportedly rattled the nation’s security agencies were in the Kogi, Bauchi and Suleja prisons where some Boko Haram members were detained.
The detention centre has raised concern about its possible use for torture and illegal detention. This concern is against the backdrop of allegations that the nation’s security agencies were notorious for human rights abuses. It is averred that the centre would enable the security agencies to be more coordinated in their fight against the sect.
According to the security official who said he was directly involved in the project but was not authorized to speak with journalists, the prison is in Lagos, far from the north where the sect has unleashed most of its attacks. He said “all suspects arrested will be taken to the centre and would be interrogated by a security group”.
He declined to say exactly where it is or how many inmates it can hold. He disclosed that the authorities are arranging to transport suspects already in their hands to Lagos State.
The security official also revealed that the detention centre was created at the orders of the national security adviser, Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi. This could not be confirmed by Azazi as he could not be contacted on telephone.
Director-general of the State Security Service (SSS) Mr. Ekpeyong Ita was said to have declined to comment when he was contacted about the detention centre.
However, SSS spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar was said to have contacted the AP reporter, saying that anyone with information about the purported detention centre should go to the courts instead of talking to journalists. She reportedly refused to confirm or deny the centre’s existence.
“Whatever we do, we’re running a democratic system that respects the rule of law,” the spokeswoman reportedly told the journalist.
It could not be confirmed whether any foreign governments have offered Nigeria advice or assistance in opening the detention centre. U.S. ambassador to Nigeria Terence P. McCulley, speaking to journalists recently, said the U.S. was “working with the Nigerian government to help them develop a counter-terrorism strategy that includes perhaps a centre even to better coordinate information and intelligence that they receive”.
Statements credited to diplomats and military officials say the sect has links with two other al-Qaeda-aligned terrorist groups in Africa. Members of the sect were also reportedly spotted in northern Mali which Tuareg rebels seized control of over the past month.
Some of the suspected sect members have been allegedly arrested and locked up for months without being charged. Security officials have also been accused of routinely arresting women and children related to suspected Boko Haram members in attempts to draw them out. Amnesty International has alleged that some Boko Haram suspects have been “subject to enforced disappearances”.
Reacting to the secret detention centre, Amnesty International said in a statement yesterday, “Attacks by armed groups do not absolve the Nigerian government of the responsibility to conduct security operations in a manner that complies with national and international law. “Widespread unlawful, incommunicado detention must cease immediately,” the group said.
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