Southern, Middle Belt leaders allege plot to sack acting DSS boss

The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum has warned against any attempt to remove the Acting Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Matthew B. Seiyefa.

The acting DG, who hails from the southern region of the country, happens to be the most senior director in the organisation when his former boss, Lawal Daura, was removed over the controversial siege on the National Assembly Complex recently.

In a statement yesterday, spokesmen of the forum, Mr. Yinka Odumakin (South-West), Senator Bassey Henshaw (South-South), Prof. Chigozie Ogbu (South-East) and Dr. Isuwa Dogo (Middle Belt), said its attention had been drawn to a surreptitious plan by a cabal in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to remove Seiyefa.

“We ordinarily would have ignored this report but for the clannishness, sectional proclivity and exclusive handling of the security architecture of the country by President Buhari since he came to office in 2015.

“It is equally not surprising to us that since the President returned from his holidays in London, he has not made a comment on the invasion of the National Assembly by the DSS in his absence, which led to the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, sacking Daura.

Buhari’s silence was a confirmation of our speculation that he is not happy with the former DG, DSS removal,” the statement said.

The forum, which accused Buhari of having defied all protestations from Nigerians in making appointments into all key and sensitive security positions, said the plot to remove Seiyefa was hinged on the professional re-organisation of the service by him, which the cabal is now interpreting as removing All Progressives Congress (APC) elements in the DSS for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) apologists.

The leaders said facts at their disposal showed that what the Acting DG has done is a good example of how to run a diverse polity, which the administration ignored in the last three years.