Why FG kicked out 115 DSS officers

Fresh facts have emerged on why the Federal Government dismissed 115 officers of the Department of State Services.

Credible security sources who spoke to Sunday PUNCH said the officers were found guilty of offences capable of undermining the integrity of the service.

According to them, the offences included fraudulent practices, acts of indiscipline, and certificate forgeries.

“Some of them even leaked official information, which is a serious offence,” an insider said.

The DSS had, on Tuesday, announced the dismissal of the officers in a statement on X,warning members of the public to desist from any official dealings with them.

The secret police published the photos and dates of dismissal of the affected personnel.

The announcement came barely three weeks after the DSS arrested two former officers, Barry Donald and Victor Godwin, who had earlier been accused of impersonating DSS personnel to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

Hitherto, the activities of the secret police, especially disciplinary actions against its officers, were not made public.

The cleansing drive

Sunday PUNCH gathered from multiple sources that the list of dismissed officers also comprised those with disciplinary cases.

A top officer knowledgeable about the matter told our correspondent that the current Director-General of the DSS, Adeola Ajayi, was “cleansing the service.”

“I am aware that some of the dismissed officers were fast becoming rogues and threatening the integrity of the service. The DSS doesn’t joke with its integrity. Some complaints were filed against these officers by outsiders, and after investigations and disciplinary measures, they were found guilty of the allegations.

“The current DSS DG doesn’t tolerate indiscipline. He is trying to reform the service and restore it to what it used to be. What is happening now is the cleansing of the system,” the source said.

Sunday PUNCH gathered that some of the dismissed officers had pending disciplinary matters before the current DG assumed office.

According to a member of the service, despite being earlier queried under the tenure of the former DG, Yusuf Bichi, some of the officers committed similar offences again.

“A bulk of the cases were disciplinary matters. Some officers were queried during the last DG’s tenure without punishment, while others received minor sanctions. But when they committed the same offences again, the current DG asked them to go. Some of these offences are not new, but the officers might have thought it was business as usual. What is playing out is an effort to restore discipline, sanity, and integrity to the service,” the source said.

Some of those dismissed were said to have travelled abroad in search of greener pastures without proper resignation from the service.

An insider said, “About 15 to 20 per cent of them are no longer in the country. They were dismissed for improper resignation. The DG wants to instil a stronger sense of discipline and discourage attitudes that were previously overlooked.”

Similarly, some of the dismissed officers were said to have been found guilty of certificate forgery.

A senior official said some of the dismissed officers were employed with Arabic institute certificates.

“These are bad eggs. They used forged birth certificates for employment. Some also attended schools in Benin Republic for only four months and presented the certificates as degrees. Others even used mosque certificates as equivalents of a degree.

“It is not possible for people who are not truthful about themselves to work in this service. They are complicit in many things; that is why their names and photos were published. They are trained personnel, and the government is watching them to ensure they don’t use the agency’s name to perpetrate illicit acts. That is why their photos were released—so that people will not have dealings with them.”

It’s part of reforms – Ex-DSS director

Commenting on the matter, a former Director of the DSS, Mike Ejiofor, said the dismissal was part of the ongoing reform in the service.

He said, “The DSS gave reasons for dismissing the officers as part of the reformation of the service. It is an administrative matter. They (the dismissed officers) were subjected to disciplinary procedures before the verdict. It is part of the ongoing reforms in the service.”

However, a security expert and Managing Director of Beacon Consulting Limited, Kabir Adamu, wondered why the DSS would publish the photos of the dismissed officers.

He argued that the move was against the counter-espionage principle, adding that it exposed the individuals to danger.

“When I saw the names and pictures of the dismissed officers, I was surprised, and I asked myself whether counter-espionage was still alive in Nigeria. Is counter-espionage not an arm of intelligence?

“Today, if you go on social media platforms, you will see official memos being uploaded and printed. Sometimes, you will even see the minutes of the chief executives of those organisations on them, and some of these have caused us huge embarrassment.

“It is the DSS that is responsible for counter-espionage. So, for them to now publish the pictures of their own staff shows clearly that they have breached the principle of counter-espionage. These staff pledged their lives. They might have done something wrong for which they were dismissed, and that’s fine—nobody would question that. But for their pictures to be shown exposes them to serious consequences.”

Part of the consequences, Adamu said, was possible attacks from victims of their operations while in service.

He added that they could also be recruited by foreign security operatives and terrorist organisations.

Adamu said, “Some of them carried out covert operations that led to the arrest of certain individuals. Now you’ve shown their pictures, and they no longer have the protection of the organisation. It means those individuals can go after them and do anything they want to them.

“We’re in a situation where there are many countries in the world that are currently uncomfortable with us. Usually, in intelligence, you look for grievances. It means these 115 persons can be contacted by foreign intelligence agencies to exploit them for different purposes.

“All these non-state armed groups can actually exploit them as well. By seeing their pictures and names, it becomes easier. They can find out who they are, exploit their grievances, and recruit them for whatever purpose.”

He lamented that the dismissed officers might not be able to get employed again.

“It is almost impossible for them to make any good use of their lives. Nobody is going to employ them. So, their lives, frankly, have been destroyed. I’m not questioning their dismissal; that is between them and the organisation and the contract of employment. If they breached that contract and were dismissed, that’s fine. What I am questioning is the display of their pictures. I think it’s wrong,” he added. (Punch)