7th August, 2024
The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested and detained seven Polish nationals in Kano over the hunger protest.
DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya disclosed this on Wednesday, while responding to questions during a briefing with the Diplomatic Corps in Abuja.
Afunanya said seven persons were picked up from Kano because of where they were found during the protest and display of foreign flag in Kano two days ago.
He said as a responsible security organisation, the DSS owed it an obligation to do some verification and ascertain basic reasons and circumstances for some cases.
According to him, they were picked by security enforcement because of where they were when the incident happened, saying that it was not a targeted operation on behalf of the Director-General of DSS and Nigeria.
“As the foremost domestic security organisation, we believe we have to work in sync with all of you who are men of goodwill,” Afunanya said.
He said the DSS’ operations must be governed by democratic principles and protocol that emphasised freedom and human rights, and of course intelligence and security governance.
Afunanya stated that the DSS obeyed all of these whether they were dealing with Nigerians or foreigners.
“But we have a plea. In the course of the discharging of our duty, we also see that some Nigerians definitely would want to use foreign lands as lunch pads to attack domestic peace and stability.
“We plead that you do not offer your country to some person who may be deviant or have a terrorist inclination in today’s global pursuit. If anything happens in a country, it affects the others,” he said.
