The Desert Herald said the total amount of the hard currency found in Mamu’s house if converted into naira is less that N1.5m
Ransom payment negotiator, Tukur Mamu, is not the owner of the military gears found in his home, says management of Desert Herald Newspaper on Friday.
Mamu is the publisher of Desert Herald, a Kaduna-based newspaper.
TheNiche had reported how the DSS recovered military uniforms and a large amount of cash in the home and office of Tukur Mamu during a raid.
The raid on Mamu’s residence and office follows his arrest at the Aminu Kano International Airport on Wednesday after he was deported from Cairo.
Mamu, a newspaper publisher, negotiated the release of some of the hostages in the March 2022 train abduction in Kaduna.
“So far, appropriate security agencies have executed valid search warrants on Mamu’s residence and office,” said Peter Afunanya, the spokesperson of the SSS, after the raid of the premises.
“During the processes, incriminating materials including military accoutrements were recovered.
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“Other items include large amounts in different currencies and denominations as well as financial transaction instruments. While further investigations continue, Mamu will, sure, have a day in court,” the DSS spokesman, Afunanya added.
However, the management of Desert Herald Newspaper, in a statement said the allegation was “concocted” by the secret police in “its desperation to give the publisher a bad name to rope him.”
The statement, issued by the newspaper’s head, Special Operations and Production Manager, Ibrahim Mada, claimed the DSS made blanket statements without bothering to give details despite the critical question of national security which they claimed was the underlying reason for Mamu’s arrest.
“We view this deliberate distortion of facts to twist narratives about Tukur Mamu with an exception.
“The department made allusions that military accoutrements and hard currency were found in the home of Tukur Mamu to sway public opinion against the publisher who has made supreme sacrifices towards fixing the raging insecurity in the land.
“The public may wish to know that the military accoutrements found in the home of the publisher belong to his nephew who is an officer of the Nigerian Navy. Tukur Mamu who played the role of a father, was responsible for the upkeep and school expenses of the nephew till he enrolled in the Nigerian Navy.
“Again in its desperation to smear the name of Mamu, the DSS said it has found a huge amount of hard currency without stating how much it found. It is incumbent for the general public to know that the total amount of the hard currency found in Mamu’s house if converted into naira is less that N1.5m, yet the DSS is trying to make the situation look bad by saying a huge haul of hard currency was found in his house.
“At this point, it is pertinent to ask when does it become a crime for someone to within his income limit have foreign currency in his house? Or is it a crime for one to have a member of his family in the Nigerian Armed Forces?
“This distortion of information and media trial against Mamu is a pointer to the desperation of the DSS to rope the man at all cost for the sacrifices he is making to ensure an end to the raging insecurity in the land,” the newspaper management said.