State Security Service (Nigeria)

Nigerian SSS operative with IMI Tavor TAR-21

Fulfilling one of the promises made in his first national address as president, Ibrahim Babangida in June 1986 issued Decree Number 19, dissolving the National Security Organization (NSO) and re-structuring Nigeria's security services into three separate entities under the Office of the Co-ordinator of National Security. The State Security Service (SSS) was made responsible for domestic intelligence, with Director General Ismaila Gwarzo and Deputy Director Lt. Col. A.K. Togun. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) handled external intelligence and counterintelligence. The Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) was responsible for military-related intelligence outside and inside Nigeria.[2] The first headquarters of the agency was located at 15, Awolowo road, Ikoyi in Lagos; this site currently houses the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The SSS headquarters was finally moved to Abuja during the regime of General Sani Abacha, the headquarters complex is informally known as the "Yellow House", it is located on the northern edge of the three-arms zone on Aso drive in Maitama, Abuja.

The mission of the SSS is to protect and defend the Federal Republic of Nigeria against domestic threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of Nigeria, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to both federal and state law-enforcement organs. The SSS is also charged with the protection of the President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, State Governors, their immediate families, other high ranking government officials, past presidents and their spouses, certain candidates for the offices of President and Vice President, and visiting foreign heads of state and government. The SSS has constantly adapted to various roles necessitated by evolving security threats in Nigeria including counter-terrorism and counter-insurgent.

The SSS has been reasonably successful in performing its primary internal security responsibility. The agency in its early day was credited with the arrest of the Egyptian bomber Omar Mohammed Ali Rezaq in 1993 while he was trying to enter Nigeria through the Nigeria–Benin border. Rezaq was wanted by the United States for leading the bombing of an EgyptAir plane for the Abu Nidal group in 1985 he was subsequently rendered to the United States after an official request was received from the State Department. [3]

In October 2010, the SSS intercepted a large cache of arms and ammunition originating from Iran at the Apapa port in Lagos; this in spite of a UN arms embargo on Iran. The arms which included artillery rockets, shells and mortars were concealed in thirteen containers falsely declared as "building materials", it was alleged that Nigeria was being used as a transhipment destination while Gambia was the final destination for the arms.[4]

The agency has also been reported to have infiltrated a number of religious extremist groups in the country including the Boko Haram sect. In September 2001, six Pakistani proselyters invited by the Lagos-based Tabliq, a Muslim NGO were arrested in Benue State on suspicion of immigration violations and they were subsequently deported on 18 November. According to wikileaks, Mr. Kayode Are, the "SSS Director General expressed concern regarding the funding for the organization, which came through wire transfers from sources in Pakistan, India and Malaysia".[5] Also according to WikiLeaks, in 2009 another itinerant preacher was arrested in Taraba state and was also deported.[6]

The SSS has also recorded some successes in combating kidnapping in Nigeria with the arrest of some kidnappers and the rescue of their victims. In October 2011, the agency rescued the Parish Priest of St Bernard's Catholic Church Eguaholo in Orhionmwon local government area of Edo state, Rev. Fr Sylvester Chukwura, from his kidnapper's hideout. The kidnappers were baited with the ransom sum and were subsequently ambushed by SSS operatives. In the same time frame, the SSS also arrested another kidnapper in Edo state known as Binebi Sibete, who was described as a notorious kidnapper and killer. Binebi was wanted amongst other things for killing an SSS operative in 2010 and also burning down the state government patrol boat at Gelegele.[7]

The SSS has been criticised for allowing Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the "underpants bomber", to board Northwest airlines flight from Lagos despite his father having previously warned security officials of his sons radical views on America.[8] In its defence, the SSS said it was not informed by Mr. Mutallab's father of his sons alleged radical beliefs, the agency said that Mr. Mutallab's father had actually spoken with officials at the United States Embassy in Abuja and also sought the help of a past Nigerian National Security Adviser. The SSS held that the American authorities did not share the information that Mr. Mutallab senior had given them and the former National Security Adviser had also not contacted the agency hence their inability to act on information they did not possess.

The agency was also criticized heavily in the wake of 26 August 2011 United Nations House bombing in Abuja. The Boko Haram sect which has ties to Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the car bomb attack that left 24 people dead;[9] the sect had been fighting Boko Haram insurgency that started as a result of their leader being killed by policemen after he had been arrested. The Nigerian public grew even more critical of the agency after newspapers ran stories in which they claimed that the agency had received intelligence about the bombing beforehand from the Americans. This news item later turned out to be false when it was revealed that it was the SSS who had actually received credible intelligence from sources within Boko Haram about an impending attack in Abuja. The intelligence pointed out key government buildings and ministries as targets, the agency subsequently raised the alert level in Abuja and also advised diplomatic missions and international organizations in the city to take adequate security precautions for their staff and premises. The final UN report on the incident indicted the UN resident Security adviser in Abuja and his deputy, they were accused of negligence considering the fact that they had been given "adequate intelligence on a possible suicide attack", yet they failed to implement suitable safeguards. Both men were subsequently relieved of their positions.[10]

In early November 2011, the Nigerian press ran stories alleging that the United States government had issued a travel advisory on Nigeria.[11] The travel advisory according to the papers included the threat of bomb attacks at major hotels in Abuja frequented by expatriates. The story immediately generated panic among the populace and accusations of incompetence made against the security agencies, the SSS inclusive. The story also alleged that the American ambassador had given a statement explaining that the US had given the warning directly because the Nigerian security agencies had failed to act on previous intelligence shared with them. In the end, the situation was only brought under control when the National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Andrew Azazi demanded evidence that the Americans had indeed given such a warning or that the American Ambassador had actually said what had been attributed to him in the press.[12] The story turned out to be false, the threat to hotels was actually an intelligence analysis of possible threats made by the SSS some months earlier which was circulated in government circles. The SSS had failed to manage information in a timely and proper fashion which had led to the public losing confidence in the organisation.

The agency has lost a number of operatives in the line of duty, while fatalities are not generally publicised some cases do get a mention in the media. During Nigeria's 50th anniversary celebrations in Abuja on 1 October 2010, a car bomb killed an Assistant Director of the agency and Mr Tahir Zakari Biu an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operative while they were trying to remove abandoned vehicles from a roadside a few kilometres from the venue of the celebrations.[13][14] The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility for the attack. The SSS was able to trace the registration of the car used in the attack and subsequently arrested suspects in Lagos, the mastermind of the operation Mr. Henry Okah was arrested by the South African authorities and put on trial in South Africa on terrorism charges. On 13 April 2007 a Security Protection Officer (SPO) working in the close protection detail of Mr. Onyema Ugochukwu, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) 2007 governorship candidate for Abia state was shot in an assassination attempt on his principal. The bodyguard was shot in the head and in his hand. In 2013, a botched security operation in Nasarawa state in the middle belt region of the country to arrest the leader of the Ombatse cult group who many claim possesses super natural powers used in the maiming of other ethnic groups especially the Fulanis, left scores of security personnel dead including not less than six men of the SSS allegedly killed using occultic powers[15]

In February 2013, the SSS broke up a terrorist cell led by Iranian handlers that was gathering intelligence for future attacks on American and Israeli targets in the country.[16]

In an exclusive report on September 29, 2020, Peoples Gazette reported lengthy details exposing nepotism and favourtism in the recruitment of personnel of the State Security Service led by Bichi, the report became known as the SSS recruitment scandal. The report cited many sources, including serving personnel of the agency, who gave figures of how the agency neglected the official procedures for recruitment to favour individuals from the local government area of the director-general and the Northern region of Nigeria against the Southern region.[17][18]

Leaders across the Southern and Middle Belt regions of Nigeria criticised the process and threatened to sue the State Security Service and the director-general for it.[19][20]

Although the notorious NSO was dissolved, the new security establishment in 1990 continued to act arbitrarily and with impunity. The government proscribed radical interest groups like NANS and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the central body of all university professors and lecturers. Several innocent citizens were subjected to physical assault without government reparations. Human rights remained substantially circumscribed. Decree Number 2 remained in place, and numerous citizens had been incarcerated under it, although the allowable period of detention without charge was reduced from six months to six weeks in January 1990. With the aid of this and other decrees that restricted freedom, usually promulgated retrospectively, such radical and outspoken critics of the government as Gani Fawehinmi, Tai Solarin, and Balarabe Musa were regularly detained. Despite having annulled Decree Number 4, the government had several brushes with media organizations. In 1988 Newswatch was proscribed for six months, and journalists, academics, and civil rights activists continued to be harassed by state security agents.

Government security forces frequently harass, arrested, and detain editors and reporters from journals critical of the regime. On 4 November 1997 Aoetokunbo Fakeye, defense correspondent for The News, was arrested. On 8 November, Jenkins Alumona, editor of The News, was arrested by SSS agents at a Lagos television station. On 9 November, Onome Osifo-Whiskey, managing editor of Tell magazine, was arrested by SSS agents in Lagos while driving to church with his children. On 29 October, Osifo-Whiskey had warned that the magazine had received a written death threat, which listed the names of 27 staff members. On 16 November, SSS agents arrested Babafemi Ojudu, editor of the News/Tempo. Rafiu Salau, an administration editor for the News/Tempo, was also arrested in mid-November. Former chairman of the editorial board of the daily The Guardian and a visiting professor of journalism at a US university, Olatunji Dare, was detained overnight and his passport seized upon his arrival from the United States on 2 June 1997. He was told to report to the DSS to retrieve his passport. After being interrogated on 17 June by SSS officials about his activities abroad, his passport was then returned.

The SSS has also been accused of repressing the political activities of opposition groups. Public meetings are arbitrarily canceled or prevented, including cultural events, academic conferences, and human rights meetings. On 25 September 1997, police and SSS agents broke up a Human Rights Africa (HRA) seminar for students in Jos, arrested HARA director Tunji Abayomi and 4 others, and briefly detained some 70 students. Abayomi and the others were held for 10 days and then released on bail. A 1 May 1998 workshop on conflict management in Port Harcourt was canceled when the SSS warned local coordinators that such a meeting could not be held on Workers Day, a local holiday. Similar workshops elsewhere proceeded unimpeded despite the holiday.

As of 2010, the standard issue assault rifles used by SSS Combat Operatives/Security Protection Officers (S.P.O) are the IMI Tavor Tar-21 assault rifle produced by Israeli Military Industries and the FN P90 personal protection weapon, FN F2000 assault rifle, both manufactured by FN Herstal;[21] these rifles replace the Uzi as the primary assault weapon of the SSS. Operatives also use various side arms and pistols from a number of manufacturers including Beretta, Glock, and Browning.

The agency has also deployed van mounted backscatter X-ray screeners from Basix Technologies for detecting Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) due to an upsurge in bombing incidents arising from a Boko Haram insurgency in the north east of Nigeria. In this counter terrorism role, the agency also uses mobile IED jammers for VIP protection in public spaces like stadiums and in a mobile configuration for use in convoys.

Due to the disproportionately large GSM mobile phone subscriber base in Nigeria and the use of cellphones as the principal means of communication by kidnappers and terrorists, the agency has had to develop telephone call intercept capability. IMSI number catchers and signal direction finders have been deployed for intercepting and tracking GSM and satellite phone communications.

The agency maintains a fleet of armoured limousines and SUVs that are used to ferry the President, Vice president and visiting dignitaries. Other vehicles mainly SUVs produced by Ford Motor Company are also used by the agency.

• National Intelligence Agency (NIA) – Responsible for Foreign intelligence and counterintelligence operations
• Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) – Responsible for military intelligence.
• National Security Organization (NSO) – Precursor of the State Security Service and the National Intelligence Agency

• Some material for this article was derived from the Nigeria Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997, U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 30 January 1998.

• Official site: State Security Service (Nigeria)
• RSF/Reporters Without Borders Summary on State Security Service (SSS)
• Nigeria: NIA: 20 Years of Service
• Nigeria: The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) At Twenty - A Tribute