Few months into new regime, Jonathan’s security chiefs are under siege

Adebayo Obajemu

There case is reminiscient of the fate of Lavrentia Beria, KGB Director during the long dictatorship of Joseph Stalin, former Premier of the Soviet Union who held sway as a dictator between 1924– when Vladimir Illyich Lenin died – whom he succeded and 1953 when Stalin himself breathed his last. No sooner had the wily dictator died than  Nikita Kruschev, the new kid on the block placed the highly unpopular Beria–who had been accused of being behind the extermination of many of Stalin’s opponents, many of them his former comrades in the 1917 Revolution that brought their Bolshevik regime to power–under house arrest first then on trial and upon conviction by a secret military court was sentenced to death and subsequently executed.

Sambo Dasuki, son of former Sultan of Sokoto, and the immediate past National Security Adviser, has been in the news the past week on account of the alleged invasion of his house by DSS officers. The manner of the invasion itself has attracted mixed reactions, as some Nigerians have condemned the invasion of his house and his subsequent house arrest as Gestapo-like

Operatives of the State Security Service, also called DSS, have since confirmed that the immediate past National Security Adviser, NSA, Sambo Dasuki, and all persons at his residence, are under house arrest. This included Col. Bello Fadile , who was implicated in the alleged phoney coup against General Sani Abacha in 1995, a personal friend of Col Dasuki.

Mr. Dasuki’s two houses, one in Abuja and another in Sokoto, have been under siege by SSS operatives since Thursday. In a statement yesterday, ex-Sultan Dasuki, former traditional ruler of Sokoto who was removed as Sultan by the military regime of General Sani Abacha, and incidentally the father of Dasuki jnr, Jonathan’s National Security Adviser, said that he condemned in strong terms the DSS invasion of his house in Sokoto and Abuja.

According to media reports both online and mainstream, one of Mr. Fadile’s friends who visited his residence on Friday was told that the retired colonel was with the former NSA and he decided to visit the House at No. 13 John Kadiya street, Asokoro district of Abuja.

“When I got to the gate, two persons came out; dressed in a black T shirt with the inscription, DSS, after a while another one wearing a native flowing gown joined us.

“They asked me my mission there and I told them that I wanted to see Mr. Fadile whom I was told was in the House, but they told me that I cannot see him.

“When I insisted on knowing why I cannot see him, the one in DSS Shirt advised me to leave the place because the house is under security siege and that everyone inside is under arrest, he said I should leave immediately,” he said.

Authoritative sources disclosed that  there was no  electricity in the building, and although it  could not be  confirmed if the security personnel cut the power, but it was learnt that  the SSS officials refused to let the occupants of the house to put on the generator.

Meanwhile, a family member of Mr. Fadile was said to have told an online news agency that Col Fadile was  under medication and had not taken his drug on account of the siege as at last Sunday.

“He has not gone out with his drugs, all efforts to let him go and take it were rebuffed by the operatives,” he said.

Reprieve however came the way of Col Dasuki as after intense pressure and public criticism, DSS operatives finally vacated his residence July17.

The offensive against Jonathan’s security chiefs has also caught up with Gordon Obuah, the Chief Security Officer to the former President who has been detained by the agency for reasons best known to it. In a statement by his lawyer, one Itsekiri, the lawyer of Gordon Obuah, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s chief security officer, has asked the Director General of the SSS, Lawan Daura, to either charge Mr. Obuah to court or release him without further delay.

Mr. Obuah is being detained by the State Security Service although the service has yet to officially speak about the arrest.

In a statement, Mr. Itsekiri said Mr. Obuah is held without a charge and his continued detention by the SSS is placing life-threatening strain on his health.

He said Mr. Obuah, who is diabetic and has a serious case of high blood pressure is being “sadistically” denied water, food and life sustaining medications.

Mr. Itsekiri also said family members and friends of Mr. Obuah have been prevented from seeing him.

Mr. Itsekiri explained that Mr. Obuah’s ordeal began a week before he was detained by the SSS. He said Mr. Daura told his client to report daily to the SSS headquarters for questioning over an allegation, the nature of which was never disclosed to him.

He said he was eventually detained last Thursday after he showed up at the SSS office for the daily questioning. Mr. Itsekiri explained that before Mr. Obuah was finally detained, Mr. Daura had asked him if Mr. Obuah wanted him to personally investigate him or delegate a junior officer to do so.

Since the news of the arrest and detention of Mr. Obuah broke last week, the SSS has yet to issue a statement on why he is being held.

There are palpable fears across the land over the style and modus operandi of the new DSS under Lawan Daura , a former top shot of the secret agency who was in retirement before Buhari brought him back to reposition it. There are fears that the Daura style is inching gradually closer to National Security Organisation, NSO, under Rafindadi in the first outing of Buhari as Nigeria’s ruler in the mid-80s.