Also summoned were the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mr. Richard Aisuebeogun; the Director of Airport Security Services, Mr. Emeka Ogunedo; and Head of Security Department, Mr. Nat Onoigboria.
As a result of Njeze’s invitation, the 2010 press briefing by the ministry scheduled to begin at 11am had to be put off till 2.30pm. The meeting could not start until about 3.30pm when she came back in company with the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili.
Njeze did not make a direct statement on her invitation but she admitted that the Federal Government still had a lot to do to address the porous security situation at the nation’s airports.
The minister spoke shortly before the Independent National Electoral Commission put the number of the stolen DDC machines at 20. Sixteen of them, said Mr. Kayode Idowu, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, had been recovered on Thursday afternoon by security operatives.
Ministry officials, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity confirmed, that the minister was summoned to the Presidential Villa.
“The minister was invited to the villa and that is why the briefing was shifted,” one of them said.
But answering questions during the briefing, Njeze said the Federal Government still had a lot to do in the area of security at the nation’s airports.
According to her, the airports lacked Close Circuit Television sets to monitor “incursions.” But she said that in 2011, the airports would be fenced and CCTV sets installed in them.
“We have done a lot to enhance security at the airports but we still have a lot to do in the area of security. There are no CCTVs to monitor all sorts of incursions at the airports,” the minister said.
According to her, the lack of fencing had denied most of the airports in the country certification by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
INEC had in a statement by Idowu, said that “16 of the DDC machines have been recovered by Thursday afternoon.” It added that security agents were “working assiduously to recover the four outstanding and apprehend the culprits.”
The commission, however, assured that “adequate safety features to forestall any nefarious use of the stolen items had been taken and, as such, the integrity of the electoral processes would not be compromised.”
“The Commission uses this opportunity to urge all eligible Nigerians to turn out for the planned voter registration in January, and to work with INEC for the attainment of free, fair and credible elections in 2011,” the statement added.
The commission’s Director in charge of Information, Mr. Emmanuel Umenger, had earlier on Thursday told one of our correspondents that the theft of the equipment would not affect the planned voter registration.
“The units coming in are not yet programmed. We will only do the programming when we have taken delivery of the equipment. And I want to assure Nigerians that there is no cause for alarm because nobody has access to our in-house-software,’’ he said in Abuja.
The Nigeria Police Force, through its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Sola Amore, said those whole stole the electronic equipment accessed the cargo terminal of the MMIA through an overgrown bush.
Before Umenger, Idowu and Amore spoke, empty containers of the DDC machines were found in a bush at the airside of the MMIA by a team comprising the heads of the State Security Service, Military Airport Command, Directorate of Military Intelligence, and Nigerian Customs Service.
The Spokesman of the Airport Command of the Nigerian Police Force, Mr. Benedict Ifeanyi, who confirmed the finding of the empty containers, said that investigation was on going.
“Investigation is going on. Our men from the Criminal Investigation Department have been deployed to the tarmac and airside. They are examining the sites where those things were found; they are yet to come up with their report. As soon as they do that, we will give the details,” Ifeanyi said.
Another top security source had told one of our correspondents that the empty containers with INEC inscriptions, were in the custody of the police.
He said, “We have found the containers of the DDC machines but the real machines had been carted away. We found the white colour aluminium containers with INEC inscriptions on them inside a bush at the airside of MMIA; the real machines which looks like what telcos use for SIM card registration were not there.
“They had been carted away . You know behind those bushy area of the airport is Shasha Akowonjo. We don’t know if they probably went away with the real machines though there.”
It was learnt that some aviation security officials of FAAN who were on duty at the Cargo Terminal on Monday night when the theft took place were now in SSS custody in Shangisha.
Also security officials of Medview Airlines, the carrier representing Saudi Arabia Airlines in Nigeria, have been invited by the SSS for questioning.
The Commissioner of Police, Airport Command, Mr. Moses Onireti, had earlier on Thursday, told journalists that FAAN had made an official report on the theft to the Police.
Onireti, who was in the team that found the empty containers, also disclosed that Zinox Technologies Limited had written to the police, requesting their men to be on the ground at the Cargo Terminal and on the tarmac of the MMIA for the arrival of the remaining units 66,000 units of the DDC machines.
The stolen DDC machines were among the 14, 000 brought in from China and the United Arabs Emirate by Zinox, one of the three companies that won the contracts to supply 120, 000 units of the equipment.
The Police commissioner said FAAN, through one of its security officials , Ogbonna E.B. also wrote to the police on Wednesday, informing them “that they discovered some pallets of INEC materials were missing.”
He said, “The plane that brought some of the equipment landed mid night Monday and the incident happened between early hours of Tuesday around that 2am. Then, FAAN wrote to us yesterday (Wednesday). It was their security officer, one Ogbonna E.B, who signed the letter,
“In the letter, they categorically stated that pallets containing INEC materials got missing, you know INEC hired Zinox Technologies Limited to bringing the DDC machines and Zinox contacted Service Solution, a clearing agent. So FAAN cannot deny anything. I have the letter with me.
“They did not indicate how many machines or consignment of INEC materials that have arrived so far, they only informed us that some materials were missing.
“FAAN did not state how and where the items got missing but they only said that they discovered and the ground handling companies have been invited to assist the police in our investigation.
“The matter has been referred to the Criminal Investigation Department of police and I have told my ADC CID to hasten the investigation because of national importance of those missing items.
“ Zinox has officially written to the police be at the ramp for subsequent arrivals of INEC materials before we are not allowed into the tarmac but with the experience now we have been allowed to cover the area and be around meaning that Zinox Solutions confirmed missing of the materials because the wrote to us yesterday (Wednesday). They even gave us details of dates and days of when subsequent consignment will be arriving Nigeria.”
The House of Representatives had at its Thursday’s plenary directed the Nigeria Police Force, the SSS and Nigerian Customs Service to investigate the theft of the DDC machines.
The House also mandated its joint committees on aviation, electoral matters and customs to investigate the circumstances which led to the theft and report to the House within one week.
Source: Punch
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