Press Statement
BUHARI’S DEPARTMENT OF STATE SERVICES (DSS) HAVE OVERSTEPPED
THEIR BOUNDARIES: TIME TO REPEAL CAP N74 L. F. N. 2004 AND DISBAND THE DSS
Because of his limited education and innate dictatorial
lifestyle, Retired Major-General Muhammadu Buhari has continued to use
Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) to perform duties statutorily
assigned to the Nigerian Police Force and other relevant agencies. In simple
terms, what we are witnessing now is a repeat of the Late Idi Amin’s style of
running a country. Within the shortest possible time, the Nigerian Judges shall
experience the same thing that happened to the 50-year old Chief Justice Benedicto
Kiwanuka on September 21, 1972, in Kampala-Uganda.
In recent reports from various newspapers within and outside
Nigeria, the DSS was said to have embarked on the arrest of Judges on
allegations of corruption. According to Saharareporters of New York, one
Abdullahi Garba stated that the DSS carried out a “special sting operations”
which according to him “constitutes a part of its mandate.” Mr. Abdullahi Garba maintained that the DSS
action “is in line with its core mandate.”
He went further to state that “this current operation will be sustained
and followed till sanity and sanctity is restored to the esteemed third arm of
government and public confidence is regained.”
For the avoidance of doubts and to correct the falsehood
being peddled by the DSS, it is proper that we make public, the law
establishing the DSS and state their responsibilities.
The DSS was established by the National Security Agency Act
CAP N74, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (L.F.N.) 2004. This was the
same Act that established the Defence Intelligence Agency and the National
Intelligence Agency. Specifically, in Section-2(3) of the Act, the DSS is
charged with the following responsibilities:
(a) The prevention and detection within
Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria;
(b) The protection and preservation of all
non-military classified matters concerning the internal security of Nigeria;
and
(c) Such
other responsibilities affecting internal security within Nigeria as the
National Assembly or the President, as the case may be, may deem necessary.
There is nothing above that supports the claims by Abdullahi
Garba that they acted according to the mandate of the DSS. Rather the DSS
usurped the responsibilities and duties of both the Police and the EFCC. For
instance, Section-4 of CAP P19 (Police Act) empowers the Police to embark on
the very operation that the DSS have usurped. Also, Section-6 of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, No. 1 of 2004 empowers the
EFCC to investigate, arrest, and prosecute individuals and organizations for
financial crimes.
Clearly, the DSS have overstepped their boundaries as
specified in the law establishing the organization. We are aware that they are
exhibiting their disregard for the rule of law with the open support of Buhari
himself. It should be recalled that Buhari is a congenital breaker of the laws
of the land. We should not forget that on the 31st of December 1983, Buhari
committed treason when he overthrew a democratically elected Federal Government
of Nigeria headed by Alhaji Aliyu Usman Shehu Shagari. Recently, which was on
the 30th of December 2015, Buhari committed perjury when he lied under oath as
he told the entire world that though Mr. Nnamdi Kanu has two International
Passports (one British, one Nigerian) but he did not enter Nigeria with any
Passport.
Besides Buhari’s encouragement of brigandage by the DSS, we
have come to the conclusion that the DSS targetted Judges who handled or are
handling the cases between the DSS and Nnamdi Kanu and other illegally detained
Biafrans. The objective is to embarrass these sagacious and fearless Judges and
to cow them into doing the bidding of the DSS. A very good example is the
fearless and upright Hon Justice A. F.
A. Ademola who ordered the unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu. The ultimate
aim of the DSS is to use this illegal operation orchestrated against these
Judges as a warning sign and impart fear into any Judge that would be assigned
to the case between the DSS and Nnamdi Kanu as
Hon Justice JohnTsoho is no more presiding over the case.
On the other hand, we posit that the Judiciary brought this
attack on themselves because they allowed Buhari to get away with flagrant
disregard of the law on several occasions. Had the Judiciary insisted that
Buhari should obey all court orders he would not have had the temerity to
tamper with their liberty as he is currently doing. Recall that it was the same
Judiciary that literally allowed the DSS to get away with murder when they kept
mute as uncountable number of court orders were flouted by the DSS. Again, it
was these same Judges that tacitly sanctioned the illegal arrest and detention
of innocent citizens in the name of keeping Nigeria one.
Today, the same monster the Judges encouraged has turned
around to consume them. The same Nigerian Judiciary knew that Justice John
Tsoho was corrupt, yet they agreed to let Buhari use him to try to achieve the
illegal conviction of Nnamdi Kanu. What we are witnessing today with this
all-out commando assault on the Judiciary is a punishment from God to the
Judiciary because they kept quiet in the face of injustice against Nnamdi Kanu,
although the few untainted ones like Hon Justice A. F. A. Ademola are now
caught in the cross-fire.
Is it not ironic that criminals in gowns like Justice John
Tsoho were never arrested despite all the judicial impunity he has committed?
Mr. Barack Obama and the British government, both of whom imposed Buhari on
Nigerians, will now understand why the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) want
to leave Nigeria. A country where a civilian president can wake up and decide
to round up some Judges because they ruled against his interest in a court of
law, is not meant for human habitation. We, Biafrans, are not interested in
Nigeria purely for this reason. This is one of the reasons that led our leader
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to call Nigeria a Zoo. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, now and without
equivocation, has been vindicated.
We restate that there is nowhere in the law establishing the
DSS which empowers the organization to embark on the prosecution of cases of
corruption. We believe that the DSS acted ultra vires. Indeed, we see the
Act (CAP N74 L.F.N. 2004) establishing
the DSS as a duplication of the Police Act (CAP P19 L.F.N. 2004). Therefore, we
strongly recommend that the Act establishing the DSS should be repealed with
immediate effect and the DSS should be disbanded.
Also, we recommend that the Judiciary must find Buhari and
his DSS in contempt of court and sanction him. Furthermore, it is our
considered opinion that if Buhari is allowed to remain in office, many innocent
people will die just like many people would have died if he had stayed beyond
August 1985.
However, these recommendations, even if implemented, cannot
stop the unquenchable and irreversible process of the restoration of the
blessed nation of Biafra.
Biafra restoration is unstoppable, irrespective of whatever
Buhari does with his DSS.
Signed
Barrister Emma Nmezu
Dr. Clifford Chukwuemeka Iroanya
Spokespersons for IPOB
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