National Security Organization

National Security Organization
Agency overview
Formed1976
Dissolved1986
HeadquartersLagos, Nigeria

The National Security Organization (NSO) of Nigeria, or Nigerian Security Organization, was created under Decree number 27 of 1976 by the military regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo, after the failed Dimka coup which claimed the life of former Head of State General Murtala Mohammed. The NSO was given a mandate of co-ordinating Internal Security, Foreign Intelligence and counterintelligence activities. It was charged with the detection and prevention of any crime against the security of the state, with the protection of classified materials, and with carrying out any other security missions assigned by the president.[1]

During the time of the military regime, and continuing through the Nigerian Second Republic, the NSO was accused of carrying out systematic and widespread human rights abuses, especially of those seen to be critical of the government. One dissident has called them a "Gestapo in Black".[2]

  1. ^ globalsecurityrtsa.org. "National Security Organization (NSO)". globalsecurity.org. Archived from the original on 24 October 2002. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
  2. ^ *New York Times. TOPICS; LOST IN AFRICA, 13 January 1985.