The DSS: An Intelligence Agency Or An Arm Of A Campaign

By Charles Ogbu

On March 29, 2023, the Department of State Services, DSS, claimed to have identified some political actors involved in a plot to install an interim government. According to the statement signed by Peter Afunanya, the spokesperson of the Spy Agency, the plot is “not only an aberration but a mischievous way to set aside the Constitution and undermine civil rule as well as plunge the country into an avoidable crisis”. 

The Service identified “endless violent mass protests in major cities” and “frivolous court injunctions to forestall the inauguration of the new executive administrations…..” as the two means through which the unnamed politicians planned to achieve their aim. 

Before we even analyse the DSS statement, let us pretend there is indeed such a plot as alleged herein. The next logical question would be: Since the DSS claimed to have identified such people, why is the agency issuing statements like a gossip blog and creating more tension in an already tense country instead of simply arresting and prosecuting the identified individuals in a court of law?

 In what part of the world does a top-ranking intelligence agency claim to have uncovered a plot to truncate civil rule and install an interim government (a euphemism for coup d’etat, if we are being specific) as well as those behind such a plot, but rather than swing into action, the agency simply takes to its social media handle to start issuing statements? 

The only reason any intelligence agency would do this is if the agency is making up the story as a cover for it to clamp down on opposition politicians and their supporters to make way for the inauguration of a man foisted on the country by the electoral commission. A betting man would bet that this is the case here, and as it happens, I am a betting man. 

I will be bold and say the DSS appears to be flying a kite here with the sole aim of intimidating Nigerians and gagging everyone, including the judiciary. An interim government can only be installed by either the government in power or by the Nigerian military through a coup. No other political actor, no matter how powerful, has the power to bring an interim government to fruition without the buy-in of either of the two aforementioned entities. So, what is the DSS not telling Nigerians here? 

By specifically mentioning protests as one of the means through which the unnamed politicians want to achieve their interim government aim, the DSS is simply creating a smokescreen to ban Nigerians from challenging the February 25 electoral genocide through street protests, which is our fundamental right. 

With their reference to what they call “frivolous court injunctions to forestall the inauguration of new executive administrations” under Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the agency is simply showing itself as an interested party out to preemptively intimidate the judiciary and place themselves above our courts of law. Is it the job of the DSS to determine which court injunction is frivolous?  

If a litigant is able to convince a court of law to grant an injunction against Tinubu’s inauguration, why should this bother the DSS? Why should the number one national intelligence agency in the country descend into the political arena in this brazenly blatant manner? 

Why is the DSS taking sides in this shameless manner at a time when Nigerians need their institutions to stand firm on the side of our country and our democracy? It will be recalled that this allegation of a plot for an interim government first came from members of the Tinubu campaign organisation like Femi Fani-Kayode, Festus Keyamo and Bayo Onanuga. And now the DSS is toeing that same line and claiming to have identified the actors involved even without making any arrests. 

Is the DSS now an arm of the Tinubu campaign organisation or a national intelligence agency whose fidelity is to Nigeria as a country, not to any politician? The answers to the above posers will come to light in the coming days and weeks. But one thing is clear: the February 25 presidential election cannot pass for an election in any sense of the word, as confirmed by all the international and local observers who have all described the polls as “flawed” and “below standard”. The Nigerian masses have a right to express themselves. No amount of press release by the DSS will stop this.  

Before the election, known figures like Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo, Bayo Onanuga, and Femi Fani-Kayode, who are all members of Bola Tinubu’s inner circle, ethnically profiled Igbos in Lagos, which led to the physical attack and killing of the same Igbo people during the elections, in a Rwandan 1994 genocide style. 

Even after the election, Bayo Onanuga and Fani-Kayode have continued to openly incite hate against the same Igbo people. It is a curious thing, is it not, that the same DSS that claims to be protecting national security has not invited any of the aforementioned persons for questioning? Could it be that the DSS does not consider a potential genocide against a particular ethnic group as a national security issue? But suddenly, the same DSS is now firing on all cylinders just because a wealthy political figure’s interest is involved.  

A double standard such as this makes one question his loyalty to the country. I call on the DSS to retrace their steps and stop provoking Nigerians. We are at such a delicate time when Nigerians need all their critical institutions to show that their loyalty is to the country and not to any politician or political party.

*Ogbu is a commentator on national issues (charlessunday46@gmail.com)