SSS detains Sanusi at Lagos airport, confiscates travel documents

The State Security Service (SSS), has confiscated the travel documents of suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on his arrival today at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos.

The suspended CBN governor was returning to Nigeria from Niger Republic where he was attending a meeting of Central Bank Governors, after receiving news of his suspension as CBN governor.

Daily Trust learnt that on Sanusi’s arrival at the Airport, plain cloth men believed to be of the SSS tried to arrest him at the airport but were deterred by the presence of press men at the airport.

Speaking to Daily Trust on phone, Malam Nasiru El-Rufai also in Lagos with Sanusi Lamido Sanusi confirmed that the SSS tried to detain Sanusi but opted to confiscate his international travel passport.

El-Rufai who said Sanusi was presently resting at a friend’s place in Lagos, noted that the SSS did not give any specific reason for the attempted arrest and subsequent confiscation of Sanusi’s passport.
He said they cited their actions on orders from above.
However, a top official at the SSS, who asked not to be mentioned, denied the action, when contacted by Daily Trust, the SSS official simply said, “I am not presently in the office, but I can tell you that the story is not true.”