The Presidential Support Committee (PSC) has condemned the barrage of criticisms and protests against the Department of State Services (DSS) over the continued detention of the convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Mr Omoyele Sowore, saying politicising the secret police is dangerous for the country’s security system.
The group’s reaction followed Saturday’s protest by some activists at the headquarters of the DSS in Abuja, demanding the release of Sowore and Olawale Bakare.
In a statement issued on Sunday by its Director of Communication and Strategic Planning, Mallam Gidado Ibrahim, the PSC urged the protesters of Sowore’s continued stay in the DSS custody to allow the security agency do its job “within the ambit of the law instead of coercing it with politically stage-managed protest”.
It noted that the DSS Director-general, Yusuf Magaji Bichi, is a law-abiding citizen, and under him, the agency has maintained the highest regard for the laws of the land and would not do anything to undermine law and order.
Ibrahim said, “The PSC has noted with dismay the confrontational manner in which some self-appointed activists are harrassing the Department of State Services in the name of protest over the convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Mr Omoyele Sowore. It amounts to playing politics with the country’s security system to lay siege on DSS in a bid to secure Sowore’s release.
“Curiously, the ptotest came barely 24 hours after the DSS had told the public that it received the court order asking it to release Sowore but nobody has turned up at its office to take delivery of him. The DSS stated categorically that this was imperative for reasons of accountability.
“It even went further to disclose that as a security agency of the government, it has briefed the court properly on this development and the steps being taken to ensure compliance with its order, and that it will do all that is needful once the appropriate processes have been concluded.
“With such a public notice coming from the DSS, it amounts to gross politicisation of the country’s security for some self-acclaimed activists to picket the office of the DSS. Instead of staging some sponsored protest, they should allow the law take its cause”.
Ibrahim further maintained that the DSS under the leadership of Yusuf Bichi is not a lawless agency and will never obstruct justice or disobey court orders.
He said, “Before those who specialise in finding faults continue to wag their tongues, they should realise that Yusuf Magaji Bichi is a consummate professional who has been a big asset to the Nigerian intelligence community. What one would have expected from the arm chair critics is to ask if necessary steps for Sowore’s release had been taken. Instead, they have once again chosen to play politics.
“We appeal to Nigerians to leave political sentiments out of the security system. It is quite unfair to pick holes in the operations of the DSS because from available records, certain conditions for Sowore’s release have not been met”.
