According to Premium Times, Marilyn Ogar, the spokesperson of the DSS, popularly called SSS, in a statement revealed it got a petition supposing “unwholesome activities” in the building situated at No.10, Bola Ajbola Street, Allen Avenue, Ikeja.
He said, “The petition
alleged that those behind the activities were cloning INEC Permanent Voters
Card with the intention of hacking into INEC data base, corrupting it and
replacing them with their own data.
“Based on this information,
the service placed the building under surveillance and having been convinced
that some unwholesome activities were going on in the building, it undertook a
raid of the premises.
“In the process, some
persons were arrested, while a server, three hard drives and 31 Ghana must go
bags of hard copy documents were recovered and taken away for further
investigation.”
Ms Ogar, who has in the
past made unconfirmed claims against the APC, said the building had no sign
post representing it was a private or government office.
The DSS statement came over
24 hours after the party declared the invasion of its office and called for a full
investigation of the committers.
Lai Mohammed, the APC
spokesperson said the building was being used as a data centre for its members.
“In what was a gestapo-like
operation, the APC membership data centre located at Number 10, Bola Ajibola
street, off Allen Avenue in Ikeja, came under siege between the hours of 5:30
am and 7:30 am on Saturday,” he said.
“More than a dozen
computers were destroyed. The server was also vandalized along with other
equipment in the building. Just like the Watergate scandal in the USA, the
state-sponsored security operatives, apparently acting at the behest of the
ruling PDP government, turned the office upside down, and pulled out and
vandalized everything in sight.
“If the PDP-led government
and the security agents had done due diligence and acted professionally, they
would have known that the APC data centre is a legitimate operation and the
staff are Nigerian youths who were left jobless by the Jonathan government.
Apart from the Lagos centre, the operation is decentralized and similar centres
are functional in about six different locations around the country.
“Now that they have
overreached themselves by attacking the offices of the main opposition party
and destroying part of its membership database, can the PDP-led government
still claim to be operating under the rule of law? Can the government sincerely
tell the world it is now ready for free and fair elections in 2015? This is one
impunity too many, and we will not allow it to be swept under the carpet,” it said
in a statement.
The Lagos data centre of
the All Progressives Congress was invaded by operatives of the Department of
State Service and soldiers on Saturday. 25 data agents and three security
guards were arrested in the process.
Ahead of the 2015 general
election, an epic battle is underway in Lagos State between APC and its main
opponent, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). It is the battle for the
governorship seat of the state. The ruling APC and the PDP, which controls the
Federal Government are engaging in a showdown.
Premium Times
Premium Times
No comments:
Post a Comment