Despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s firm assurance to hand over power to the new elected president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu come May 29, 2023, the Department of State Service’s (DSS) alarm of Interim National Government elicits strong condemnation amongst opinion leaders, causing the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to allege that the secret police is deploying frivolous alarm to intimidate Justices of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (Court of Appeal) and those of the Supreme Court as they prepare to hear cases of alleged election manipulation by INEC which produced Tinubu as president-elect
By Udoka Ekeleme, Abuja
The chairman of the Presidential Transition Council (PTC) and Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, did neither mince any words nor stutter when he pronounced on Tuesday, March 28 that “The transition process is on course, and all efforts are being made to ensure that it is smooth and on May 29, there would be peaceful formal transfer of power to the new president”.
Mustapha stated this in Abuja at a media briefing while revealing that the PTC which President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated on February 14, 2023 is made up of 24 members, including two nominees from the president-elect’s team. The SFG pronouncement, according to political analysts, had since put paid to the speculation that some powerful politicians were plotting to foist the unconstitutional Interim National Government (ING) on the country from May 29, 2023.
But in a sudden twist that has since unsettled the polity, the Department of State Service (DSS) had on Wednesday, March 29, 2023 issued a warning alarm that it was in possession of intelligence which established that some unidentified individuals were actually plotting to truncate the May 29, 2023 hand over. The secret agency alerted that alleged proponents of ING had already held several meetings in locations where DSS failed to identify. However, the DSS alluded that its alarm was orchestrated by the sponsorship of endless mass protests across the country, as well as the alleged ING masterminds’ plot to obtain court injunction to stop the inauguration of the executive and legislature at the federal and state levels.
In a statement by Dr. Peter Afunanya, the spokesman of DSS, the secret agency said, “The DSS considers the plot being pursued by these entrenched interests as not only an aberration but a mischievous way to set aside the constitution and undermine civil rule as well as plunge the country into an avoidable crisis.
“The planners in their various meetings have weighed various options which include among others to sponsor endless violent mass protests in major cities to warrant a declaration of state of emergency. Another is to obtain frivolous court injunctions to forestall the inauguration of new executive administrations and legislative houses at the federal and state levels.
“Stakeholders, notably judicial authorities, media and the civil society, are enjoined to be watchful and cautious to avoid being used as instruments to subvert peace and stability of the nation,” the statement read in part.
The DSS alarm has received serious backlash from the citizens some of whom questioned why the DSS failed to mention names of those behind the sinister ING. They berated the DSS for failing to arrest and prosecute such persons if they could be identified. In the recent time, the DSS has been swimming in troubled waters for its controversial actions. First was the agency’s secret move early in the year to obtain a court warrant to arrest the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele over allegation that the latter had engaged in sponsoring terrorism in the country. The court had dismissed the DSS petition seeking to obtain a warrant to arrest the CBN governor on the premise that such petition lacked merit if the DSS was unable to establish credible evidence of terrorism sponsorship against Emefiele.
Its last March alarm against plotters of ING has continued to generate another heat in the country. The duo of Chuks Akunma and Chuks Ohuegbe, erudite Abuja- based journalists opined that the DSS was in the habit of scaring Nigerian citizens with such alarming statements without taking the time to arrest and prosecute those behind them. Both journalists who appeared on the African Independent Television (AIT) Kaakaki newspaper review on Thursday, March 30, 2023, dismissed the DSS for seeking to cow Nigerian citizens who are protesting the alleged manipulated presidential election which is seeking to foist Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the duly elected president.
According the two pen pushers whom admirers refer to as “Chuks squared” on account of their identical names, the DSS was alarmed by the interview which Datti Baba-Ahmed, vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) granted at Channels Television recently, as well as the protests by Nigerian youths at the military headquarters in Abuja. They challenged the DSS to prove its claim by arresting and prosecuting the alleged masterminds of the treasonable plot if they want Nigerians to take them serious. They also reminded the secret police that there is no provision for ING in the 1999 Constitution as amended. However, they posited that the DSS was heating the polity, sending negative signal to the international community, especially foreign investors, trying to suppress protests against electoral heist, afraid of court injunctions that may suspend the inauguration of Tinubu as well as trying to intimidate the judiciary from defending the ailing democracy.
The LP had since distanced itself from the ING plot. Yunsa Tanko, LP’s spokesperson said this on Channels Television interview on Thursday March 30, insisting that, “We are not part of any insurrection plans whatever”. The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) challenged DSS to effect some arrest if it was sure of its alarm, Yabagi Sani, IPAC chair said. Alhaji Musa Kwankwaso, the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) presidential candidate claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) never conducted any credible election that produced Tinubu as president-elect. Kwankwaso alleged that Buhari never had genuine intention to conduct credible elections in 2023, while urging Tinubu to make efforts to win the acceptance of the citizens. Some other commentators alleged that the DSS alarm was false, and intended to arrest Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP and that of LP, Peter Obi both of whom are in court challenging Tinubu’s election as president.
In his reaction, a PDP Chieftain, Demola Olanrewaju, who is Abubakar’s aide on Digital Media, said that the DSS was expected to work clandestinely instead of raising alarm that would jolt the public. Olanrewaju who spoke on AIT Kaakaki on Friday, March 31, asked, “What exactly is the alarm supposed to achieve? Does the opposition have the power to install interim government? DSS mentioned unguarded statement; does it mean that if the court rules against the ruling party presidential candidate, DSS would not obey the ruling because of its loyalty to a president-elect who has not been sworn in?
“I want to say that the DSS warning is just against the judiciary. The DSS is merely threatening the Appeal and Supreme Court Justices not to tamper with what INEC has done with the election. The DSS aim is to intimidate the judiciary and citizens who engage in protests”.
