DSS Addresses Claim of Possible Tenure Elongation for Buhari, States Position of Secret Police
- The claim that there are plans by the Department of State Services to work towards elongating President Muhammadu Buhari's tenure has been debunked by the secret police
- Peter Afunanya, the DSS spokesperson said that the claim is mischievous and fabricated to malign it and mislead Nigerians
- According to Afunanya, the president has vindicated the DSS by categorically stating that he is ready to hand over power to his successor on May 29, 2023
The Department of State Services (DSS) on Thursday, May 12, reacted to a report that it was pushing for tenure elongation for President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement signed by Peter Afunanya, DSS spokesperson and received by Legit.ng, the secret police said its attention has been drawn to a report claiming that it was testing the waters by insinuating that the 2023 general elections may not hold due to insecurity.
Source: UGC
Describing the report as misleading, Afunanya said the claim that a session between officials of the agency and civil society organisations was a ruse to sell tenure elongation for the president is mischievous.
Further disassociating itself from the publication, The DSS categorically stated that the information is false and obviously fabricated to malign it and mislead the populace.
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Afunanya said the leadership of the secret police is curious that the session which was applauded and described as innovative by participants including credible Civil Society groups would be misrepresented by SaharaReporters.
He added that the said media organisation were neither invited to nor participated in the exercise, not alone having details of what might have transpired at the meeting.
His words:
"The Online paper, in its characteristic gutter journalism, had initially claimed that participants at the session were harassed.
"When the fake news did not garner the expected attention, it resorted to another gimmick aimed at dragging the Service into an unnecessary term elongation debate."
Clarifying DSS stance on good governance and democracy in Nigeria
Further noting that President Buhari has overtime reiterated his stance to hand over power to a new president on May 29, 2023, Afunanya said that the DSS has been vindicated from the misinformation aimed at creating confusion.
He added:
"While the Service, in the circumstance, aligns with the Presidency, it urges the public to disregard the lies of SaharaReporters and its promoter whose activities are usually antithetical to a decorous environment.
Meanwhile, politicians and highly placed personalities are advised to desist from making unguarded statements capable of derailing efforts to deepen the country’s democracy as well as mobilise citizens for national unity and stability."
Security agencies raise alarm, allege plots to unsettle northern Nigeria by desperate politicians
Security agencies had said that there are plans by some desperate politicians to cause havoc in northern Nigeria.
According to the agencies, the plan is to sponsor violent protests across the region to discredit the Buhari administration.
Four governors - a former governor from Sokoto and a prominent traditional ruler - were said to be part of the plot.
Group blames intelligence failure for the increase in terrorists, bandits' attacks
Earlier, a coalition of 76 NGOs and civil society activists knocked the intelligence arms of the military and the Department of State Services for continued attacks on military formations and other infrastructure of the state by terrorists.
The activists also lamented over the kidnapping and robbery by bandits saying the attacks were not only a setback to the war against insecurity but a blatant embarrassment to the armed forces and Nigeria in general.
The group particularly made reference to the recent kidnapping of travellers in broad daylight along Abuja-Kaduna road, an attack in Borno that resulted in the killing of an army chief and three other soldiers, and several others as clear instances of intelligence failure.
Source: Legit.ng
