How can one illegally detain one’s own citizens in dehumanising conditions and still want to be in the reckoning concerning Global Security?
I start by congratulating Mallam Yusuf Magaji Bichi who is the newly appointed Director – General of the Department of State Services DSS. This position is a very sensitive one; it is also a very powerful one.
Bichi’s entry has come at a time when public perception of the DSS (also known as the SSS, State Security Service) has seriously dimmed. This view was occasioned by the recent raid and armed blockade by masked DSS operatives at the National Assembly at Abuja, leading to the shutting out of members of the legislative arm of government.
That ugly display of impunity was to cost the former DSS DG dearly – he got fired for it last month. Mathew Seiyefa was appointed to act as DG, in the interim. It is naturally to be expected that Bichi will be more circumspect in his dealings and will be guided only by the Rule of Law in the handling of his sensitive duties.
It is the right of the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to appoint whomever he deems fit to the position of Director – General of the DSS.
Bichi is the person found fit for the job, and it is important at this time of electioneering that he be allowed to focus on the job.
Now if there is one thing I would want him to focus on immediately (after about two weeks in office now), it is to address the shocking and chilling situation in which two hundred and ninety four people are currently being detained by the DSS. Not just that, but the said 294 people have been held in detention for upwards of two years.
The publisher of The Weekly Source Magazine, Mr. Jones Abiri who was recently released form the Security Service gulag has also recounted to the public how the DSS has underground cells at their headquarters where detainees are cruelly kept in dehumanising conditions.
None of this has been denied by the DSS (thankfully today, Nigerians are free of the former whiplash DSS lady spokesperson, who would have threatened fire and brimstone at the revelation, had not a victim been released and brought details!)
In any case, by Nigerian laws, no person can be legally detained beyond forty-eight (48) hours without a court order in any part of Nigeria. Beyond Nigeria itself, this infringement negates The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. And as human beings, Nigerians, like all citizens of the world are entitled to exercise their Fundamental Human Rights; Right to Personal Liberty, as well as even the Right to Privacy among several others.
How could the DSS possibly clamp down on hundreds of Nigerians and detain them for years running, even as the year 2018 is coming to an end? This illegality is going on even when we have the Nigeria Police Force as law enforcement agents in the nation.
It must be said that it is to Mathew Seiyefa’s credit that upon resumption of office he saw to the release of a number of persons illegally detained by the DSS, his acting capacity notwithstanding.
Now, the ever pro-active leading lawyer and activist Femi Falana SAN, upon hearing the damning information on DSS detainees, wrote a letter to the then Acting DG requesting to be availed of detailed information pertaining to the detainees and their criminal culpability, if any.
However, the substantive Director – General was appointed such that Seiyefa probably did not have sufficient time to look into the plight of these hapless detainees. But Bichi does now.
Clearly, this piece is not about the backlash that trailed the announcement of Bichi’s appointment. In fact, Bichi is said to have been a seasoned security operative and at this time, he deserves to be given the benefit of the doubt and allowed to perform his job.
As it is, the consequence of this terrible act of illegal detention is grave and more far-reaching than simply to chill the spines of innocent citizens.
Nigeria is practically pushing to lead up the United Nations Security Council and to be on every continental body dealing with security. But then, having this DSS situation on our shores negates any claim to legitimacy for Nigeria’s inclusion at any congregation on security; continental or global.
Thus for me, I would find it a compelling duty for Mallam Bichi as the man in authority, to get to the bottom of this grave problem at once.
It is also his patriotic duty, and I have full confidence in his ability to do so; I have no reason to think otherwise.
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