From the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came yesterday an advice that President Muhammadu Buhari should immediately overhaul the Directorate of State Services (DSS) to enable it function with maximum efficiency particularly in the face of the renewed attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents.
Acting National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, in a statement issued in Abuja said the DSS might have been too distracted by its alleged involvement in political issues. According to the party, the Abuja attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents could have been averted if issues of intelligence gathering were taken more seriously.
The statement reads in part: “Whereas we have remained steadfast in our commitment to support each and every policy adopted by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari aimed at ending terrorism, especially knowing the importance of secure environment in achieving peaceful co-existence, an imperative for development, and whereas we are aware that a bomb is an ill-wind that blows no good to anybody in the community, scaring away potential investors, we are therefore duty bound to draw attention to certain grave factors possibly leading to the unfortunate resurgence, which, if unchecked, could worsen the ugly situation.
“Our checks reveal that poor intelligence gathering by the Department of State Services (DSS) and other relevant intelligence group is largely, if not directly, responsible for the resurgence of terrorists, who have earlier been pushed to the precipices in the Sambisa Forest in Borno State, to the extent that they have slipped back into other cities, including the nation’s capital.
“From all indications, the DSS under the watch of the current Director- General, Alhaji Lawal Daura, does not seem to be in full grip of the intelligence situation. This is apparently traceable to the avoidable distractions occasioned by the flagrant use of the agency for political assignments since the emergence of the new director-general, in addition to the apparent administrative disharmony within the service, all resulting in the erosion of professionalism, harmony and loyalty among personnel.”
PDP alleged that “in the last few months, the DSS, instead of concentrating on its primary statutory duties of providing domestic intelligence, security service and criminal investigations for the state, has, under the new director-general, directed all its energies on political matters, chasing after opposition elements, interfering in election tribunal activities, intimidating and hounding tribunal witnesses, while terrorists resurge, and combatant security forces left with scanty intelligence.”
According to the PDP, the situation with the DSS has become so pathetic that it could not even effectively analyze reported suspicious tweets “predicting the attacks” as a cue to forestall last Friday’s attack in Abuja and other parts of the country.
