The Department of State Services (DSS) says its operatives are investigating the alleged involvement of seven Polish nationals in the nationwide protests against hunger and bad governance in Kano State.
Politics Nigeria reports that the foreigners were arrested on Tuesday in Kano.
DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, confirmed the arrests on Wednesday while explaining that the action was part of routine security enforcement rather than a targeted effort against Polish citizens.
Afunanya stated that the DSS actions were conducted in line with democratic principles and respect for human rights.
“Seven persons were picked up from Kano because of where they were found during the protest and display of foreign flag in Kano two days ago,” he said.
“As a responsible security organisation, we owe it an obligation to do some verification and ascertain basic reasons and circumstances for some cases.
“They were picked by security enforcement because of where they were when the incident happened. It is not a targeted operation on behalf of the Director-General of DSS and Nigeria,” the spokesperson explained.
He also pleaded for cooperation in maintaining global stability, urging other nations not to allow their citizens to be used as instruments for undermining domestic peace in any country.
“As the foremost domestic security organisation, we believe we have to work in sync with all of you who are men of goodwill.
“Our operations must be governed by democratic principles and protocol that emphasise freedom and human rights, and of course intelligence and security governance. We obey all of these whether we are dealing with Nigerians or foreigners.
“But we have a plea. In the course of the discharging of our duty, we also see that some Nigerians definitely would want to use foreign lands as lunch pads to attack domestic peace and stability. We plead that you do not offer your country to some person who may be deviant or have a terrorist inclination in today’s global pursuit. If anything happens in a country, it affects the others.”
He also noted that “Nigeria is a country with a large population and I believe that the support other countries will give will help us.”
The nationwide protest, which commenced on Thursday, August 1, was in response to the hardship being experienced by citizens in the country.
However, the protest was hijacked in some parts of the country with some demonstrators waving the Russian flag and calling for foreign intervention.
