Premium Times, an online media, is reporting that President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment of Yusuf Bichi, as the new Director-General of the Department State Security Services, DSS, has drawn the ire of senior officials within the key National Security Service, with many of them threatening to stop Mr. President’s re-election, come 2019.
It was gathered that the DSS Headquarters in Abuja, and field offices across the country, have been subsumed by an air of anxiety and volatility, since Buhari recalled Yusuf from retirement, and named him as the replacement for Matthew Seiyefa, on September 13.
Seiyefa’s removal by President Buhari, came a little over a month, after he was appointed by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.
Seiyefa was the most-senior official at the time of his appointment, having enrolled in the Service in 1984. He assumed office with promises to perform his duties differently from his predecessor, who was infamous for his crude and controversial approach to law enforcement.
In his first two weeks as DG, Seiyefa’s soft reform efforts were already being felt with the gradual release of ‘illegally-detained’ suspects from custody, and the appointment of the Agency’s first Spokesperson in three years.
A few days before his removal, it was learnt that Seiyefa’s job was being threatened by top Presidential Aides, especially the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari.
When the Presidency announced Seiyefa’s removal, there was a whiff of resentment that Buhari took the decision not because Seiyefa was incompetent, but because he was not comfortable with a Southerner overseeing a crucial National Security desk, going into an election (2019 Presidential election) he had been so keen on winning.
After Seiyefa was sacked, the same group of concerned Leaders from the Southern and Central parts of Nigeria, accused the President of fueling ethnic and religious division in the country. They said that the President deliberately sidestepped senior Officers in the DSS, who were capable of being appointed DG, and recalled Bichi from retirement, because he does not believe in Nigeria’s unity.
Recent findings showed that Buhari faces the most potent threat to his re-election, from disgruntled elements deeply embedded in Nigeria’s security architecture.
In the first week of Bichi’s appointment, at least four DSS personnel at Director levels, in separate interviews expressed displeasure over the development.
Further interactions with additional eight senior and five junior Officers across different departments and directorates, confirmed the urge of grievance which Buhari’s decision cast on the Agency.
The officers complained that the appointment would greatly hinder their own career progression, with many who belong to the class of mid and late 1980s, fearing that they will not have a chance to produce a Director-General before they retire.
“Afakriya Gadzama (2007-2010), Ita Ekpeyong (2010-2015), Lawal Daura (2015-2018), and Matthew Seiyefa (2018), all belong to the same class”, a senior official said.
“Now all of them have been Directors-General, and no one from our generation has managed to get that high.”
Another Officer from Northern Nigeria, condemned Bichi’s appointment as threatening his own career, saying that, he would not forgive Buhari for bringing him from retirement.
“This man retired since 2015, he got a Security Consultant deal with Lawal Daura, that kept him near the SSS for two years until 2017, so why was he recalled three years after retirement?”
“I am a Northerner, and I do not agree with this move by the President, because it will destabilise the Service”, he said.
“We believe the President took this action to preserve himself in office, but we will ensure he does not get a re-election”, another SSS official at Director level said.
“In-between working for the opposition and frustrating the boko haram war, we will get him out of office.”
All the Officers spoke under anonymity, because they are still in the Service, and fear they could be targeted for summary dismissal or worse punishment, if named in the report.
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