WHY POLICE ARE JITTERY OVER TISHAU -DIA
The cold war between the police and the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), over the release of self-confessed Boko Haram kingpin, Ali Tishau, deepened at the weekend with the DIA claiming that the police authorities released him because they were jittery over his disclosures.
A top security source in Abuja told Daily Sun on the condition of anonymity that the failure of the police to act on the information volunteered by Tishau was a miscalculation which was still hunting the hierarchy of the force.
Although the source faulted Tishau's claim that co-founded the dreaded Islamist sect he said there was no doubt Tishau had very useful information that could help the police in containing the group's insurgency.
'All the police are doing is an attempt to free themselves of culpability by saying that we released him. That is a lie. It is patent lie. This man is a freelance, he is just like any member of the public who wanted to give useful information to the police,' he said.
On why the police have failed to tell the public all they know about the man and how they got to know him and kept him in custody, the source alleged that the police refused to cooperate with the DIA until an order came compelling them to release Tishau to the DIA. 'He was released to us and there was an understanding that we should return him to them, which we did after talking with him for about a month or, so that he was in our custody,' he explained.
Contrary to police's claim that it was the DIA that released the man, the DIA source said that it was actually the police that released Tishau based on a court order. 'And in any case, there was a court order, he is not a terrorist. If he had been a member of Boko Haram, how come he did not bomb DIA? How come none of us have come to any harm. And if he was truly a Boko Haram member do you think the police would keep him alive. They would have killed him. So these are some of the issues that people may not understand.'
According to the source, Tishau is a Tiv, from Benue State and grew up in Jos, Plateau State. He had contact with the Boko Haram people. The source regretted that some of the people who have been arrested by the police are mere informants and not Boko Haram members even as they described as surprising the fact that none of the genuine Boko Haram people have been charged to court.
As an organization that is responsible for co-ordination of intelligence gathering for the Nigerian Armed Forces both internal and external, Daily Sun was told, the DIA is also charged with the responsibility of coordinating interrogation of all the security agencies on the Boko Haram crisis.
This much was revealed by a source from the Presidency who told Daily Sun that 'the DIA is supposed to coordinate joint interrogation of all the agencies, including the National Intelligence Agency, State Security Services, Police, among other security agencies, on this Boko Haram menace.' The source who does not want his name mentioned, said the DIA has recorded a lot of successes in Borno State, and were making head-ways in curbing the Boko Haram crisis.
A Presidency source who does not want to be named said that Aso Rock was in the know of all the dealings of the DIA as far as the Tishau revealing story is concerned as it is charged with the responsibility of coordinating interrogation of all the security agencies on the Boko Haram crisis. The top Presidency source said 'the DIA is supposed to coordinate joint interrogation of all the agencies, including the National Intelligence Agency, State Security Services, Police among other security agencies on this Boko Haram menace. 'The DIA has the right to release somebody if he is not a terrorist especially if there is court order to that effect. Everybody knows that,' the source added.
The top security source, explained how the DIA got to know about Tishau's detention in police custody and the role it played to get to him, he said. 'We got to know about Tishau through our own source who told us that there is such a man in police custody who has a lot of valuable information on all these things on aliens, on clerics on terrorism on political militias and all those things.
And we were given a number and we started talking with him in police custody. You can imagine somebody having telephone in police custody. So, we cultivated him and we saw that he was somebody who could be of assistance. So, we requested for him from the police. The police were reluctant till we used other means and eventually we got him.
'And we sent him back to the same police after we finished talking to him. And the police became very hostile with him. And when we needed him the second time, they refused to release him for over four months. 'As far as we are concerned, he is somebody who wants to help security. Especially from the angle of all these terrorists and he has been trying to tell the police so many important things but the police refused to act on it. So they can't blame anybody if they come up later to say that look police did not utilize my information.
'He is not a member of Boko Haram or anything like and that is the first thing which the police did not tell the public and I think the press too did not bother to ask the question. I think the press too was a bit…..I think there is mischief in the whole thing. They are being too personal.
'But the truth is that we got to know of this Tishau, and we requested for him from the police. The police refused to cooperate with us for a long time till they were ordered to release him to us. He was released to us and there was a gentle man's agreement that we should return him to the police which we did after talking with him for about a month or there about that he was in our custody.'
'When we were satisfied that he wasn't any threat or anything, we released him back to the police based on that agreement.