The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday strongly warned the Department of State Security (DSS) against its alleged plan — at the behest of some politicians — to arrest its Chairman in Borno State, Hon. Ali Abubakar Dalori, on trumped-up charges, saying it is capable of precipitating a crisis in an already-volatile environment.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the situation in Borno is already very dire, hence no one should add fuel to a raging fire simply because of scorched-earth politics.
It also warned the DSS to resist the growing temptation to dabble into politics, even while it is becoming very glaring that the agency is being compromised under the present political dispensation.
“The careless and clearly partisan statements being made by DSS Spokesperson Marilyn Ogar have shown all discerning Nigerians the direction in which the agency is leaning. However, it must still exercise great caution in order not to spark a needless crisis in Borno,” Mohammed said.
“We have it on good authority that with the recent movement of Ali Modu Sheriff to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), attempts are being made to destabilise the APC in Borno, using agencies of state like the DSS. The take-off point is the arrest of our Chairman in the state on trumped-up charges.”
Mohammed warned anyone seeking to trigger a crisis in Borno that the people of the state are resolute in their determination to ensure a level playing field in the run-up to the 2015 election.
“It is curious that the DSS has suddenly unearth supposed offences committed by Hon Ali Abubakar Dalori to warrant his arrest, now that Sheriff has defected to the PDP,” he said.
“Again, we are compelled to warn the DSS that, as an organ of state, it cannot afford to be partisan. An agency being sustained by taxpayers cannot turn around to hunt the same taxpayers.”
He held that DSS is supposed to protect the people of Nigeria and thus cannot be the same agency being used to witch-hunt the opposition.
“Unless the DSS turns a new leaf and stop making itself a tool in the hands of politicians, the agency will ridicule itself and weaken its capacity to function effectively.”
The party urged the DSS and other security agencies to concentrate their efforts on arresting the daily carnage being perpetrated in Borno and other states by Boko Haram, instead of allowing those who helped to precipitate the carnage in the first instance to further destabilise the state.
