Dissecting the DSS naked dance for the APC ~ by Onyiorah Paschal
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The recent news report emanating from the press release issued by the Department of State Services (DSS) to the effect that it uncovered plot by some unnamed politicians to thwart the current democratic process of peaceful change of government in favour of setting up an Interim National Government, has, for all intents and purposes, pointed to one obvious direction: that the DSS could be working in connivance with the most retrogressive institutional disaster in the annals of the Nigerian political space known as the All Progressive Congress (nick-named the APC).
Indeed, if the truth must be told, the DSS needed not to have recently danced naked by hastily speaking to some of the plethora of issues in the public domain arising from a litany of woes, inadequacies, unpleasant actions and inactions occasioned by the ineptitude of the APC-led Federal government and the APC itself, which ultimately has precipitated the looming political quagmire perniciously afflicting and threatening the future of democratic governance in the country.
Granted, the Department of State Services could easily be perceived to be discharging its responsibility by issuing a press statement on the said plot by the people it knows and believes to be planning to cause into existence the formation of an Interim National Government by or post May 29, 2023.
But then, even with that which it knows or claims to know, it is pretty surprising but nonetheless comical that the agency could be pontificating about how those allegedly incubating the so-called plot intended to sponsor “endless violent protests” across major cities in the country, in order to make the need for a declaration of a state of emergency inevitable.
Unfortunate enough, though, in this apparent figment of anyone’s imagination, the DSS would appear to have either lost it all or shied away from disclosing to the general public that which could possibly cause peaceful protests to suddenly go violent. The imperative for this disclosure being that there are reports of peaceful protests going on every now and then in Abuja, the nation’s capital, yet they are so far devoid of any unpleasant incidents.
Now come to think of it, except perhaps it is concealed in its dossier, the DSS never cared to situate in proper perspectives or, better still, to bring to the notice of the general public that the present political predicament in Nigeria makes it inevitable that there are two possible factors that are bound to provoke violent protests.
The first of which having potency to emanate from desperate attempts by certain political elements within the ruling All Progressive Congress whose scheming is to subtly orchestrate and encourage a possible violent clash of opposing protesters in order to create the scenario of outright breach of peace and threat to national security.
The second factor, which is of course a corollary of the first one, being that the government of the day in its notorious characteristic tendencies could decide to clamp down on peaceful protesters (as it did during the END SARS protests) with the intent to deploy coercion as a deterrent to potential protesters – a development which is bound to heighten tension in the land and to begat more violence.
Over all, rather than dwelling upon these and other security contingencies that have potency to spontaneously cause a disruption in the polity and to advise and educate members of the public and potential protesters on the most viable preventive measures to take in order to eschew the occurrence of the foregoing unpleasant scenarios, the Department of State Services seems to be glossing over all of these issues of great concern.
Apparently disposed to be dancing naked for the APC, the DSS’s rhetoric simply portray it to be more fixated and hell-bent on demonizing and criminalizing protests than allowing this globally accepted peaceful means of ventilating and mitigating frustration and dissatisfaction to prevail. Yet, for reasons that could border on political correctness, the DSS would want everybody to believe that it is not in reality dancing naked for the All Progressive Congress.
What is more, heavily tainted with profound suspicion is the claim by the same DSS in its press statement that those allegedly rooting for an Interim National Government aim to obtain what it refers to as “frivolous court orders” that would be deployed to stop the inauguration of the so-called president-elect by May 29, 2023.
With due respect, however, whether this claim is predicated upon facts derived from genuine and careful investigation or otherwise, the most disturbing aspect of it all is the agency’s pejorative reference to court orders as “frivolous”.
As it were, it is understandable that recent activities and performance of the Judiciary, especially the courts, in Nigeria have left much to be desired – partly compounded by the shenanigans under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch.
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Nevertheless, it is not in the least the responsibility of the DSS to publicly pronounce or highlight the idiocies, pitfalls and failures that have characterized this important and independent arm of government. Therefore, even if certain court orders in Nigeria have of late become a serious subject of controversy, it is not the business of the DSS to pooh-pooh them in the glare of the public.
Essentially, it must be stated at this juncture that the effective operation of democracy glowingly nurtured and anchored upon the lofty principles of the rule of law, makes it even absolutely wrong for the Department of State Services to refer to orders of any court of law with or without competent jurisdiction as frivolous.
And so, to have even made such pejorative reference to judicial orders without due respect for the principle of separation of power, therefore, might as well suffice to avail Nigerians and the international community an insight into the notorious proclivities of the DSS towards its intermittent but condemnable non-compliance with court orders.
As a national institution duly funded and maintained with resources deriving largely from the tax payers’ earnings, the Department of State Services is naturally meant to be pursuing a national agenda devoid of sentiment, bias and allegiance to any group or sub-national interest.
To this end, the DSS ought not to indulge in acts capable of being construed as a mark of loyalty to interest groups of any kind. This largely accounts for why its recently covert and oblique attempt to intimidate the courts of law in the country by the nasty reference to their orders as “frivolous” is clearly viewed as an obloquy blurted out in bad taste.
Apparently, for the DSS to have been rightly or wrongly adjudged “an arm wing of the APC” for seemingly pandering to the whims and Caprices of the ruling party and its president-elect, in contradistinction to what it ought to be or do, amounts to staging a naked dance for the All Progressive Congress. Read more.
Onyiorah Paschal Chiduluemije writes from Enugu and can be reached via 07012130204.
