LIKE IG SULEIMAN ABBA, LIKE DG ITA EKPEYONG

When you look at the Motto of the Department of State Security Service, DSS, otherwise dubbed State Security Service (SSS), you find therein on its logo- Loyalty, Vigilance and Verity. While the middle principle “vigilance” may be taken in its absoluteness, the duo of “Loyalty” and “Verity” are relative. They are relative because they are subjective in nature. If an agency of government has as its idiosyncrasy “loyalty”, it is not enough to see such an agency as non-partisan. Of course, the agency can decide to be loyal, not to the Nigerian state but to the powers that be. Such is the similitude of the country’s Department of State Security Service as we have today.

Just like the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, the Department of State Security Service has in recent times continued to display actions tantamount to partisanship. Its modi operandi have hitherto shown it’s more of a vendetta-undertoned than for the love of the country. The State Security Service, SSS as it is otherwise called has lately shown it is carrying out a script as written by a clique, and thus cares less whose ox is gored. When the agency invaded the All Progressives Congress, APC Secretariat, the first time at Acme Road, Ogba-Ikeja, Lagos, a cross-section of the populace raised eyebrow but I really did not see anything wrong in it.

However, I got flabbergasted when for the second time in less than three (3) weeks, the APC office was “buggled” yet again. What really could Maryln Ogar and her boss, Ekpeyong have lost and were frantically looking for at APC Secretariat? The first invasion was said to be linked to Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) scam, but how do you describe the second “attack” if the agency is not on a clandestine mission, more so when there exists a court injunction restraining DSS or any of its affiliates from intruding on the APC secretariat privacy? This present leadership has continued to show its penchant for disregard of “Rule of Law”. Why hasn’t the SSS published its findings from the APC Secretariat?

Agreed that the incumbent Director-General of the agency, Mr Ita Ekpeyong apart is a South South man, and apart from that, he was once a benefactor of Mr. President while the latter held sway as the Deputy Governor of the State of Bayelsa. Mr Ekpeyong was the Bayelsa state’s honcho of the State Security Service and in appreciation of his gesture to our Presido, he was promoted the Director-General, and even recently had his tenure extended for another four years. It is expected that irrespective of whatever appreciation the powers that be might have shown him, he should put the nation first and be diplomatic in his approach to issues. Like my Yoruba would often say, “bi a ba ran ni ni ise eru, a a fi t’omo je e ni” but then “aja ti o ba maa s’onu, kii gbo fere ode”’.

Czar Wysdom Omógbóláhàn, CFR, VoM, GGFR...Àse ñ t'Èdùmàrè