The acting Director General of
the Department of State Services, DSS, Mathew Seiyefa, has recalled officers he
transferred out of the headquarters of the agency when he resumed office on
August 1.
This followed the directive by
the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, who queried the DSS boss for
carrying out reorganisation in the agency without clearance from the Presidential
Villa.
Recall we had reported that the
presidency ordered Seiyefa to reverse the redeployment.
A source had said the presidency
was angered by Seiyefa’s redeployment of Director of DSS in Kano, Alhassan
Muhammad to the Headquarters in Abuja and the deployment of Director of
Operations at the Headquarters, Mr. Godwin Bassey Eteng who was moved to the
Institute of Security Studies, Abuja as Director.
He had also posted another
officer from Kebbi to serve as the Chief of Staff to the DG in Abuja.
The reorganisations include
postings of directors from headquarters to states and vice-versa. Over 30
officers at all levels and cadres were affected.
The then Acting President,
Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, fired ex-DG Lawal Daura in August after the seige
on National Assembly.
But a source told Punch Monday
night that, “There is tension everywhere because the directive has been
complied with by personnel, most especially by those who instigated it.
“Both Eteng and Kentebe have
reported. Personnel morale is at its lowest ebb.
“Even quite a significant number
of the personnel of northern extraction are not happy with the Chief of Staff
because they said himself and the ousted DG had not been good to the service.
“Meanwhile, there is every
possibility that the service may witness an unprecedented protest against the
undue interference in the affairs of the service by the Chief of Staff to the
President.”
A few days ago, the embattled
Katsina-born Daura finally spoke on his ordeal.
He made three declarations: (i)
That he took all actions in national interest through a collective
responsibility, including involvement of principal officers of sister agencies;
(ii) that he acted on a higher authority which he relied on to deploy agents at
the National Assembly; (iii) that the report submitted by the Inspector General
of Police (IGP), Idris Ibrahim, was totally incorrect.
Earlier, in his interim
investigation report submitted to Osinbajo, the IGP noted that Daura confessed
that he deployed hooded operatives to
the Federal Legislative complex based on intelligence report that unauthorized
persons were planning to smuggle in dangerous weapons and incriminating items.
“The former Director-General,
Department of State Security Services, DSS, Lawal Daura, acted unilaterally,
without informing the Presidency. He did not share or intimate other Security
Agencies on the unlawful operations,” Idris wrote in the report.
I smell a rat
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