Abuja Federal High Court has granted Department of State Services (DSS) permission to hold Tukur Mamu, a former terrorists' negotiator, for a further 60 days.
On Tuesday, Justice Nkeonye Maha granted an ex-parte application made by Ahmed Magaji, a lawyer for the DSS, to provide the authorisation.
On his way to Saudi Arabia for a lesser Hajj, Mamu, one of the top negotiators for the release of those injured in the Kaduna State train attack, was detained at Cairo International Airport, Egypt.
The DSS urged the court to grant its reliefs in a motion with the file number FHC/ABJ/CS/1617/2022 and a date of September 12 so that it could wrap up its investigation into Mamu, who was in charge of negotiating the release of the train passengers from Abuja to Kaduna who had been abducted in March.
This followed the criticism by popular Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, to whom Mamu is an aide, who faulted the arrest of Mamu.
Gumi, at a religious gathering on Friday in Kaduna, had asked the security agency to charge Mamu to court if it had any evidence against him, rather than keeping him in custody.
But the DSS, in its reaction, said it would not be distracted by some skewed narratives in the media and requested to be left alone to concentrate on the ongoing investigations, the outcomes of which it said have remained ‘mindboggling’.
Mamu was intercepted on September 6 by INTERPOL at the Cairo International Airport in Egypt while trying to connect a flight to Saudi Arabia.
A day later, the security agency said he has since been taken into custody upon his return to the country.
It explained that the action followed a request by the military, law enforcement, and intelligence community to their foreign partners to bring back Mamu to the country to answer critical questions on ongoing investigations relating to some security matters in parts of the country.