Bandits negotiator Tukur Mamu accused of terrorism financing

Tukur Mamu, the publisher of Desert Herald, has been slammed with accusation of terrorism financing.

The Department of State Services (DSS), in an affidavit it deposed to before a federal high court sitting in Abuja, said Mamu aids and abets acts of terrorism.

The secret police also prayed the court to extend Mamu’s detention period by another 60days pending when it will conclude its investigation.

“Preliminary investigation so far established, amongst others, the offences of the logistic supplier, aiding and abetting acts of terrorism as well as terrorism financing against him,” the DSS was said to have written in the affidavit.

“That the defendant (Mamu) has used the cover of his profession as a journalist to aid both local and international terrorist groups. That the action of the defendant has orchestrated the untimely death of several security personnel in North Central and North East parts of Nigeria That the defendant has discreetly given several information to bandits and terrorists that escalated various acts of terrorism in Nigeria. That the investigation has assumed a wider dimension and sophistication requiring time and advance expertise to conclude.

“That some of the suspects working with the defendant are at large and premature release of the defendant will jeopardise the ongoing investigation. That it is in the interest of justice and national security to grant this application.

“That the activities of the defendant and his associates at large constitute a potent threat to the unity and peaceful co-existence of Nigeria.”

The judge, Nkeonye Maha acceded to the DSS request.

TheCornet reports that Mamu was arrested at the Kano International Airport after he returned from Egypt, where he had been detained on his way to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj.

Mamu, is the media aide to Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, an Islamic cleric known to sympathetic to the bandits.