Nigeria's parliament probes secret police over raids

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) – Nigeria’s parliament Wednesday opened an inquiry into the activities of the country's secret police over claims its operatives were acting outside of or exploiting loopholes in the law.

“The activities of the directorate of State Security Service -- the secret police -- of late have raised concerns...as to the propriety of the conduct of officials of the service and whether their actions are consistent with the law setting it up,” House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara said in the capital Abuja as he inaugurated a parliamentary committee to probe the agency.

Dogara said the recent arrest by secret police of two Supreme Court and at least five High Court justices, along with reports of other actions of the agency, had raised questions about the powers of the body under the law.

The secret police were established by the National Security Agencies (NSA) Act of 1986 to address internal security matters.

In 1999, the agency had its powers extended by then military dictator Gen. Abdussalami Abubakar to cover investigations of economic crimes with implications for national security.

The parliament speaker said section 3(c) of the NSA Act, which gives the National Assembly and the president the powers to delegate responsibilities to the secret police as they deem fit, had given legislative powers to the executive.

“It is imperative that we periodically and in a detached and objective way...re-examine our laws against the background of unfolding events to establish that they have indeed been complied with and, where this is not the case, to navigate a course that rectifies the errors and forestalls future errors,” he added.