Atiku's Spokesman Arrested

[Haleemah]

Atiku's spokesman, Garba Shehu arrested
Posted To The Web: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - By Rotimi Ajayi

ABUJA — SECURITY operatives yesterday raided an annex of the campaign office of Vice President Atiku Abubakar in Abuja and whisked away his chief spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu.

The resource centre of the VP’s campaign organisation was recently raided by security men who arrested an American over allegation that he had links with a terrorist group.
Mallam Shehu’s arrest yesterday came shortly after he issued a statement in which he alleged moves by “highly placed mischief makers and professional character assassins to air a one-hour documentary of lies and fabrications on Vice President Atiku Abubakar

The arrest was confirmed by Dr. Adeolu Akande, an aide of the VP who in a statement said: “Officials of the State Security Service (SSS) this afternoon (19 September 2006) stormed the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Media Centre in Jabi, Abuja, and abducted Mallam Garba Shehu, the campaign spokesman.

“In a lightning operation that took barely three minutes, the operatives led Garba down to a waiting Peugeot 406 car with Abuja registration number plate CY747ABJ, and drove him away at 1.45 p.m to an undisclosed destination.

“The abduction, said to have been ordered by President Olusegun Obasanjo, came barely a week after Garba was picked up by agents of the same organisation (SSS) and grilled for two hours at their Asokoro corporate headquarters.


“The agents, who claimed to have come from the National Operations Directorate of the SSS, did not volunteer any information, but the Atiku Campaign gathered that Shehu was wanted to substantiate the allegations against President Olusegun Obasanjo in the ongoing face-off between the President and his deputy.

“He is also to be queried on allegations that he had been ‘bribing journalists’ to publish statements from the Campaign Oraganisation. The position of the Campaign Organisation is that whatever has been said against the President in the unfolding persecution of Atiku Abubakar has been informed by facts and backed up with evidence which have been deposed in a court of law, and does not feel obliged to volunteer anything to the SSS at this time.

“On the alleged bribery of journalists, nothing can be farther from the truth. Whatever the media office has accomplished is because of the professionalism of the media and the commitment of the journalists to the principle of fair hearing

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