The Director General of the State Security Service (SSS), Tosin Ajayi, has removed Adegboyega Fasasi from his position as the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
SSS is also known as Department of State Services (DSS).
Daily Nigerian reports that sources said Mr Fasasi’s removal was finalised over the weekend.
He has been replaced by Rasheed Atanda Lawal, a deputy director of the SSS who is currently enrolled in a fellowship course at the National Institute for Security Studies, the newspaper learnt.
The source added that President Tinubu approved Mr. Fasasi’s removal at the request of the DSS Director-General (DG), who cited the need to send him on a “strategic course” — a common pretext for replacing top security officials close to the president.
Sources also revealed that Mr. Lawal was due for promotion to the rank of Director in July 2023, but the former management stalled his advancement, reportedly because he was not favored by the previous DG.
“It has now become the tradition of the service for a new DG to redeploy a new CSO that he is comfortable to work with.
“The position of the CSO is highly strategic. The DG needs someone he actually trusts and comfortable with at that key position,” said the source.
In March 2019, then President Muhammadu Buhari approved the redeployment of his Chief Security Officer, Bashir Abubakar, and appointed Idris Ahmed as his replacement.
Then Director General of the SSS, Yusuf Bichi, reportedly persuaded the president that Mr. Bashir needed to attend a “strategic course” at a university in Buenos Aires, Argentina, leading to his replacement.(SaharaReporters)
