EXCLUSIVE: How DSS Reclassified Terror Suspect For Less Intensive Monitoring

EXCLUSIVE: How DSS Reclassified Terror Suspect For Less Intensive Monitoring

In November 2023, the National Headquarters of the Secret Service (NHSS), also known as the Department of State Services (DSS), downgraded the status of suspected terrorist Ibrahim Musa on its watchlist. According to a leaked memo obtained by SaharaReporters, all officials were instructed to observe the suspect casually. The memo, dated November 15, 2023, and signed by Adeola D. Ali for NISEC NHSS, announced that the DSS had approved the downgrade of Musa’s status from ‘Watchlist Action A’ to ‘Casual Observation’ with immediate effect…….CONTINUE READING 

In a related development, SaharaReporters recently revealed that the DSS had ordered the arrest of Omoyele Sowore, convener of the #RevolutionNow Movement. Sowore was briefly detained by Immigration Service officials at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos upon his return from the US.

Additionally, in April 2019, an Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal convicted six Nigerians for funding Boko Haram, with some receiving life sentences and others ten-year terms. In December 2019, their appeal was rejected by a UAE Federal Supreme Court. The US imposed sanctions on these individuals in March 2022, targeting their assets and further disrupting their activities.

The US officially designated Boko Haram as a “foreign terrorist group” in 2013, noting the group’s responsibility for numerous attacks and casualties across northern Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin region. In March 2021, Garba Shehu, then Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, revealed that Nigerian authorities had arrested Bureau De Change operators involved in transferring funds to Boko Haram, in collaboration with UAE authorities. The ongoing investigation aims to uncover further details about the financial networks supporting the group.