The Chief Security Officer (CSO) to immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan for five years, Gordon Obua is been arrested and detained by the State Security Service (SSS).
Reports have it that he was arrested on Thursday in connection with ongoing investigations by the secret police on the alleged movement of large sums of “security money” in the last administration as well as oil theft in the Niger Delta.
It was gathered that he went on hunger strike since Thursday to protest the conditions of his detention, including a lack of access to lawyers and his family members.
He was arrested after honouring an invitation from the agency.
Obua, appointed CSO by Jonathan in 2010, left his position at the end of the former president’s tenure on May 29, although he remains in active service at the security agency.
It was learnt that Obua is being detained at the Abuja headquarters of the SSS, also known as the Department of State Services (DSS).
The specifics of the investigations were not immediately known but an insider said Obua “is not co-operating” and could spend a longer period in detention.
Obua is best remembered for expelling a German radio correspondent from Aso Rock in the dying days of Jonathan’s administration.
The reporter had sought to verify from the visiting Chadian president, Idriss Derby, the truth of claims that South African mercenaries were helping in the fight against Boko Haram.
President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to recover monies believed to have been stolen in the last administration as part of his anti-corruption campaign.
The investigation is being led by the SSS, whose leadership was changed early July with exit of Ita Ekpenyong and the appointment of Lawan Daura as the DG in acting capacity. [myad]
