TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT : Jonathan’s former CSO detained in Abuja by SSS, embarks on hunger strike ... TheCableng

Gordon Obua, the chief security officer (CSO) to President Goodluck Jonathan for five years, has been arrested and detained by the State Security Service (SSS), TheCable can report.
He was arrested on Thursday in connection with ongoing investigations by the secret police on the alleged movement of large sums of “security money” in the last administration as well as oil theft in the Niger Delta.
TheCable understands that he went on hunger strike since Thursday to protest the conditions of his detention, including a lack of access to lawyers and his family members.
He was arrested after honouring an invitation from the agency.
A source said that he is being kept in an underground cell but TheCable could not verify the claim.
Obua, appointed CSO by Jonathan in 2010, left his position at the end of the former president’s tenure on May 29, although he remains in active service at the security agency.
Sambo Dasuki, who served as national security adviser (NSA) to Jonathan, is also being investigated over security spending running into billions of dollars.
Dasuki’s Abuja residence was searched by SSS operatives from Thursday to Friday as part of the investigation.
Obua, sources told TheCable, is being detained at the Abuja headquarters of the SSS, also known as the Department of State Services (DSS).
The specifics of the investigations were not disclosed to TheCable but an insider said Obua “is not co-operating” and could spend a longer period in detention.
Obua is best remembered for expelling a German radio correspondent from Aso Rock in the dying days of Jonathan’s administration.
The reporter had sought to verify from the visiting Chadian president, Idriss Derby, the truth of claims that South African mercenaries were helping in the fight against Boko Haram.
President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to recover monies believed to have been stolen in the last administration as part of his anti-corruption campaign.
The investigation is being led by the SSS, whose leadership was changed early July with exit of Ita Ekpenyong and the appointment of Lawan Daura as the DG in acting capacity.