Of DSS, shallow graves, sensationalism and sectionalism

The recent press release by the Directorate of State Services (DSS), Nigeria’s secret police, to the effect that they discovered some 50 shallow graves, five of which they claimed had some Fulani natives buried in them, is most unfortunate to have come from an otherwise responsible security outfit.

While we await the veracity or otherwise of this story, Nigerians are already holding their breath to know what next could happen especially as the DSS declared that the bodies were corpses of Fulani natives purportedly murdered by IPOB/MASSOB members.

The reason Nigerians still hold the DSS in very serious doubt about this unfolding scenario is not far-fetched. The DSS under the leadership of Lawal Daura, its current Director-General, has become notorious for acting irresponsibly just to create enemies for perceived political opponents of President Buhari, members of the opposition, or those considered irritants to the current administration.

For example, the same DSS once invaded the Akwa Ibom State government house and claimed to have discovered a cache of arms and stockpiles of dollars. This report genuinely enraged the citizens, only for the “discovered arms and dollars” to be mere propaganda as the DSS could not charge anyone for such a supposed strange and felonious discovery, months after.

Also, the DSS’s recent invasion of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, where some lawmakers  were whisked away on frivolous grounds, and released except for one Hon Afolabi Akanbi, who was held incommunicado for 18 days without being charged to court within 48 hours as required by law until he became so ill.

As usual, after all the showmanship by the DSS, no charges were preferred against the lawmakers. Of course, there could not have been any since it was widely believed that the whole exercise was politically motivated to target Governor Ayo Fayose.

This is not counting the numerous court orders which the DSS have continuously and flagrantly disobeyed, behaving like a child who throws needless tantrums for attention.

So, when the DSS made the announcement that they have discovered those shallow graves, one wondered what their true intentions were. Knowing full well that Nigeria’s peace is fragile, and what such irresponsible announcement could cause in the north, one would not be surprised if the intention of the DSS is to ensure another ethnic cleansing of Nigerians of Southern extraction in the north.

A more responsible institution would have been more circumspect especially when investigations are still ongoing.

I was in Abia State over the weekend when the DSS released the press statement and I make bold to say that the portion that says “Following this act, tension is currently rife among communal stakeholders in the State…” is absolutely false and uncharitable of the DSS as there is no tension in Abia State.

This attempt to create tension where there is none is most unfortunate. In as much as one does not and should never condone criminality under whatever guise, one wonders why the DSS has not made a single comment about the continued terrorist attacks of whole communities by Buhari and Lawal Daura’s kinsmen, the Fulani herdsmen?

In Agatu, more than300 people including defenceless women and helpless children were massacred by these herdsmen who have been ranked as the 4th most dangerous terrorist group in the world by the Global Terror Index. The corpses of the victims littered the streets, but the DSS never ever found it disturbing enough. Rather, the herdsmen have been allowed to walk free.

Contrast this to the purported five corpses of Fulani natives said to have been discovered in Abia State and the venom with which the DSS spoke on that episode, and one might not be wrong to conclude that the security agency is dangerously playing an ethnic card and desperately fishing for crimes with which to hang on Nnnamdi Kanu the IPOB leader.

Beyond Agatu, the Fulani herdsmen have been traversing the length and breadth of Nigeria under the guise of cattle grazing while they unleash terror on their host communities. Yet, neither Buhari nor Daura has condemned them even for once. Nigerians are watching!

The biasness of the Nigeria Army in killing IPOB members demonstrating peacefully, orderly and are not known to have killed anyone in the course of their agitations, compared to the freedom allowed the Fulani militia to embark on their killing spree unchallenged, is ominous and disturbing and reflective of Buhari’s language.

The disdain with which he talked about Nnamdi Kanu and the Biafra agitators and the Shiite Muslims massacred by the Army, on national television has since formed the direction our security agents’ work.

So, with all these, one knows where the DSS and other security agencies are coming from when they sensationalise and sectionalise matters of national security just to score banal political points.

The earlier they desist from such, the better for our nation.