Senator Ali Ndume has dared the Nigerian government to name, arrest and prosecute suspected sponsors and financiers of terrorism in the country.
Ndume, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, dared the government recently while speaking on a Channels Television program, Political Paradigm. He said he was still embarrassed with previous attempts to present him as a sponsor of the Boko Haram group.
According to him, his only offence was that the Department of State Services (DSS) had monitored a phone and exposed a call made by a spokesman of the insurgents and attempted every trick to label him as a financier of the group.
While accusing Nigerian security agencies of not conducting a proper investigation before he was subjected to public ridicule, Ndume said:
“If there is evidence that somebody is funding Boko Haram and there is clear evidence after doing your investigation, why don’t you tell Nigerians? Why don’t you prosecute them?
“Just because they were tracking my phone and they said a spokesman of Boko Haram called me, they arrested me.
“They didn’t even ask me and they didn’t do any intelligence work. The then-Senate President (David Mark) called me and said the DSS wants you to report that they have some questions.”
Ndume said when he got to the DSS office with the thought he would be afforded the opportunity of availing the Service with useful information that will help in the terrorism war, he was interrogated and before he knew what was happening, the DSS, through the then spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar, briefed journalists and accused him of sponsoring terrorism.
