An Article In Favor Of The Appointment Of Alhaji Lawal Musa Daura As DG Of DSS (posted by Citizen Ahmed Aliyu)

On the allegation of Daura as an APC Member:

By Intersociety
Click for Full Image Size

An Article In Favor Of The Appointment Of Alhaji Lawal Musa Daura As DG Of DSS (posted by Citizen Ahmed Aliyu)

On the allegation of Daura as an APC Member:
It is truly amazing how the Nigerian media is guilty in foisting a culture of collective amnesia on the Nigerian society by their almost always resort to sensational or headlines journalism. Since when the PDP threw the salvo tha Daura ought not to be appointed as DG DSS, on the grounds that he is a card carrying member of APC. Before then, there is the allegation that Daura was pulled out of retirement in preference to those in service, or he is from the same town with the President.

Now, I waited in vain to see any of the main newspapers do an Editorial on this raging controversy by tracing the trajectory of appointments to that office at least since 1999, if not since 1960, to give Nigerians a synopsis of the situation, because of the overriding public interest that resting this controversy will ensure.

For starters, in 1999, the PDP government under Obasanjo brought in a retired Colonel Kayode Are, a military intelligence officer, to lead a civil intelligence management outfit for the whole of Eight years that Obj stayed in office. Col. Are is Yoruba like Obj, from the same geopolitical zone and with the same religious faith as Obj. Then in 2007, President Yar'Adua departed from Obj template, by appointing an insider, Mr. Afakariya Gadzama, the then Director Operations, DSS headquarters, and the most senior Director, as DG DSS. Afakariya, though a northerner, is a minority from Borno in the North East, while Yar'Adua is from Katsina, in the North West. Gadzama is also of a different religious faith with President Yar'Adua. When President Jonathan arrived on the scene, he uplifted Mr. Ekpeyong above other senior serving Directors, to become DG DSS. Mr Ekpeyong is from Cross Rivers and the same South South zone with Jonathan. They also share the same religious faith. All thru these previous appointments, no one raised any issue on their desirability, competence or effectiveness, whether on partisan or professional grounds. PDP has no moral right to question appointments of the APC government, after spending 16 years appointing thousands of Nigerians into all offices, from the strategic to the mundane.

On the allegation that Daura, is a card-carrying member of APC, no smoking gun evidence have been presented so far. The only circumstantial evidence presented is the photo of Daura posing with General Buhari when he inaugurated his campaign security and intelligence committee, where Daura served as the chairman of the intelligence committee. And that photo is no substitute for evidence if membership of APC. The o ly tenable evidence is his registration card or his name in the party register. And inyeresting, the DSS once seized the entire national data base of APC containing list of its members nationwide, when it raided the APC data center in Lagos, alleging that the APC is planning to clone the INEC voters register by supplanting it with its own members!

Now, even if Daura is a member of APC, that will not void his appointment, because the appointment of DG DSS is not by promotion but essentially a political appointment at the pleasure of the President, as we have seen in the different appointment philosophies employed by previous PDP presidents. And the appointment of the DG does not require senate concurrence or approval to become effective in accordance with the DSS Act as amended.

In any case, the not too hidden partisan roles played by our security agencies in the not too distant past is a pointer that security officials need not be card carrying members of political parties in power to compromise on their non partisan security mandates.

The price of freedom is constant vigilance by the civil society. And the citizens can challenge any infringements on their rights by security services in the court of law. There are recent landmark cases of citizens winning cases against the security agencies for their human rights violations. Elrufai won a case against the DSS for infringing on his rights to movement in Anambra state during the gubernatorial elections in 2014, where the DSS restrained Elrufai from leaving his hotel room, on the grounds that he is not from Anambra State, and therefore have no business being in the state during elections, even as Elrufai then was the Assistant national Secretary of the APC, that is also contesting the elections. The federal high court in Abuja reprimanded DSS, and awarded damages in favour of Elrufai.

It is unfortunate that we still play the politics of personalities running institutions of state, when we should focus on the performance of these institutions in line with their enabling statuses or operational mandates. And the media is to blame on foisting this non redeeming culture on our polity.

I believe the PDP need to rethink it's opposition methodology, if it ever hopes to be taken serious again by Nigerians and be entrusted with the leadership of this country in the future. Examples of state officials that pandered to the whims and caprice of the then ruling Party at the expense of their official designations and responsibilities are too regretful to recall here. And it is part of the reason that PDP was eventually degraded from a promising national party that should serve as an umbrella for all Nigerians, to a regional platform on the throes of demise.

We need PDP to survive and provide an effective opposition to the APC, in the larger interest of consolidating our democracy, so that we do not replace a multi party kleptocracy with a one party dictatorship, no matter how benevolent.

And that serious and solemn task of verily opposition politics should not be left in the hands of at best, clowns, and at worst, charlatans!

Wrtten by Zayyan Yabo Sokoto
Intersociety’s Response(by Emeka Umeagbalasi)

Thank You very much Mr Ahmed Aliyu for the piece you forwarded to us here on the blundered appointment of Alhaji Lawal Musa Daura as the "acting DG of SSS" by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Despite the energy dissipated by the writer to justify the constitutionally and statutorily blundered appointment, he failed woefully to lay out the appointment procedure in any constitutional provision or statutory provision known to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. This is not a matter of image laundering requiring reaching out to some groups and individuals to applaud the appointment, which have now rented the air. It goes far beyond that. It is also not the issue of altercation and counter-altercation by APC and PDP leading to conversion of the sensitive issue into party politics. It also goes beyond that.

Like we said, the entire arguments in the piece under reference were not laid on any known law, which is subject to the 1999 Constitution. DSS is not a civil security oversight group like the Police Service Commission. The PSC cannot arrest, detain and prosecute, but the Nigeria Police Force; likewise the DSS is empowered to do that by the constitution and the law. If OBJ went and appointed a retired Army col to head it, it did not make it a legal act; even though the two are not the same. Again, a retired Army col is not as the same as a retired DSS director. It amounts to recalling a retired police commissioner to head the NPF as "serving Inspector General of Police". By appointing Mr. Lawal Musa Daura in "acting capacity", as DG of DSS, Mr. President also goofed because he should have appointed the next most senior serving senior DSS officer (i.e. Deputy DG) in that acting capacity. Even in the Judiciary, Mr. President lacks power to appoint a retired Justice of Supreme in both "acting" and "substantive" capacities as the CJN; not to talk of appointing a retired officer of the DSS as its acting head.

It is like appointing a retired police commissioner or a retired police AIG as "acting Inspector General of Police". The power of Mr. President to "appoint whoever he deems fit" as the DG of DSS must not be exercised outside the civil/public service rules and the 1999 Constitution. Where relevant provisions are absent in an existing Act, the 1999 Constitution is expressly resorted to, and where relevant provisions are clearly provided in the same Act; again, the 1999 Constitution still retains its supremacy.

It is therefore constitutionally abominable and impeachable for Mr. President to appoint a retired director of DSS as "the acting DG of DSS". Even in the law the writer quoted in his piece (the National Security Agencies Act of 1986), there is no provision where Mr. President is empowered to appoint a retired director in the same DSS as the DG of same body. As Nigerians, we must avoid at all times to act of "legalizing illegalities" because of our primordial and clannish ethno-religious interests.

See the Act below:
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCIES ACT OF 1986
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
SECTION
Establishment of National Security Agencies.
General duties of the National Security Agencies.
Principal officers of the Agencies.
Co-ordinator on National Security.
Establishment of advisory councils.
Instruments relating to the advisory councils, the structure, etc., of the Agencies.

Repeal.
Short title.
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCIES ACT
An Act to disband the Nigerian Security Organisation and to create three security

agencies, charging each with the conduct of the relevant aspect of the national

security and other related matters.
[1986 No. 19.)
[5th June, 1986]
[Commencement.)
Establishment of National Security Agencies
There shall, for the effective conduct of national security, be established the following

National Security Agencies, that is to say-
(a) the Defence Intelligence Agency;
(b) the National Intelligence Agency; and
(c) the State Security Service.
General duties of the National Security Agencies
(1) The Defence Intelligence Agency shall be charged with responsibility for-

(a) the prevention and detection of crime of a military nature against the security

of Nigeria;
(b) the protection and preservation of all military classified matters concerning the

security of Nigeria, both within and outside Nigeria;

(c) such other responsibilities affecting defence intelligence of a military nature,

both within and outside Nigeria, as the President, or the Chief of Defence

Staff, as the case may be, may deem necessary.
(2) The National Intelligence Agency shall be charged with responsibility for-

(a) the general maintenance of the security of Nigeria outside Nigeria, concerning

matters that are not related to military issues; and

(b) such other responsibilities affecting national intelligence outside Nigeria as the

National Defence Councilor the President, as the case may be, may deem necessary.

(3) The State Security Service shall be charged with responsibility for-

(a) the prevention and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal

security of Nigeria;
(b) the protection and preservation of all non-military classified matters concerning

the internal security of Nigeria; and
(c) such other responsibilities affecting internal security within Nigeria as the National

Assembly or the President, as the case may be, may deem necessary.

(4) The provisions of subsections (I), (2) and (3) of this section shall have effect

notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary, or any matter therein

mentioned.
(5) In this section, "classified matter" has the same meaning assigned thereto in

section 9 of the Official Secrets Act.
[Cap. 03.]
Principal officers of the Agencies
(I) There shall be appointed for each of the agencies, a principal officer, who shall be

known by such designation as the President may determine.

(2) The principal officers of the agencies shall in the discharge of their functions under this Act-

(a) in the case of the State Security Service and the National Intelligence Agency,

be responsible directly to the President; and
(b) in the case of the Defence Intelligence Agency, be directly responsible to the

Chief of Defence Staff.
Co-ordinator on National Security
(1) For the purpose of co-ordinating the intelligence activities of the National Security Agencies

set up under section I of this Act, there shall be appointed by the President a Co-ordinator on National Security.

(2) The Co-ordinator on National Security shall be a principal staff officer in the office of the President.

(3) The Co-ordinator on National Security shall be charged with the duty of-

(a) advising the President on matters concerning the intelligence activities of the

agencies;
(b) making recommendations in relation to the activities of the agencies to the

President, as contingencies may warrant;
(c) correlating and evaluating intelligence reports relating to the national security

and providing the appropriate dissemination of such intelligence within Government,

using existing facilities as the President may direct;

(d) determining the number and level of staff to be employed by each agency

established pursuant to section I of this Act and organising the transfer and

posting of staff, especially the transfer and posting of existing staff of the Nigerian

Security Organisation established pursuant to the Nigerian Security Organisation Act

1976, repealed by section 7 (1) of this Act;
(e) doing such other things in connection with the foregoing provisions of this

section as the President may, from time to time, determine.

Establishment of advisory councils
(1) There shall, in the interest of national security, be established two advisory councils, that is to say-

(a) the National Defence Council;
(b) the National Security Council.
(2) The National Security Council shall be charged with responsibility for matters

relating-
(a) to public security; and
(b) generally to the structure, staff and other matters concerning the agencies set

up under this Act.
(3) The National Defence Council shall advise the President on all matters concerning the

defence of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria.

Instruments relating to the advisory councils, the structure, etc., of the Agencies

The President may by an instrument under his hand make provisions with respect to

the following matters, that is to say-
(a) the composition, membership and appointment to the advisory councils

established by section 5 (1) of this Act;
(b) the structure of each of the agencies set up under this Act (including the

designation and the appointment of the principal officers of the agency concerned)

and the manner in which each agency is to be administered;

(c) the manner in which the powers of each agency is to be exercised and the

conferment on specified officers of the agencies, of the powers of a superior police officer; and

(d) such other matters concerning or incidental to any of the matters mentioned in

this Act as the President may deem fit.
Repeal, etc.
(I) The Nigerian Security Organisation Act is hereby repealed.

(2) If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, the provisions of

this Act shall prevail and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.

8. Short title
This Act may be cited as the National Security Agencies Act.

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION
No Subsidiary Legislation
Thanks
Emeka Umeagbalasi
3/8/2015

Disclaimer: "The views expressed on this site are those of the contributors or columnists, and do not necessarily reflect TheNigerianVoice’s position. TheNigerianVoice will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements in the contributions or columns here."