Updated: March 3, 2021
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The last has not been heard of the sacked Director General of the Nigerian Department of State Service, Mr Lawan Daura, newswire PRNigeria reported on Wednesday quoting a reliable source.
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Officers of the Nigerian secret service barricaded the National Assembly on August 7, turning back senators and house of representatives members as well as workers.
The move angered many Nigerians across the world, and evoked fears of past coups.
The then Nigerian acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, sacked Mr Daura and reassured the nation that democracy would not be suspended. Mr Osinbajo was acting while President Muhammadu Buhari was vacationing in London.
After his sack, Mr Daura was accused of working for the Nigerian opposition, especially for the Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki.
Mr Daura has not spoken in public since he was fired and the latest disclosure might be an attempt to set the records straight and give Nigerians a peep into what really transpired on August 7.
Newswire PRNigeria quoted Daura as telling people close to him that his decision to shut down the National Assembly was a “collective decision”, a coded phrase to say it was with the approval of the presidency and the ruling All Progressives Congress.
According to PRNigeria, even with condemnation of the siege, including from the Vice President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, Daura was neither given a query over any issue nor indicted on his handling of affairs of the service until his sack.
A close associate to the sacked DSS boss who spoke to PRNigeria on conditions of anonymity said that Daura insisted that he took all actions in national interest through a collective responsibility, including involvement of principal officers of sister agencies even though he promised not to disclose on whose authority he relied on to lay the siege on the National Assembly.
The source further said that “while the former DSS boss has not officially handed over up till now, his house both in Asokoro and Gwarinpa were thoroughly searched in the night and nothing incriminating were found, and all items found including necklace, praying mat, CDs, ATM card, women bags, documents and receipts have been duly returned to him accordingly.”
The source also stated that when he was invited by the then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo for the security briefing, he quickly rushed out and left some of his personal belonging including phones in the office. He noted that when he was whisked away and eventually sacked, he did not know his offence.
The source further disclosed that Daura felt demoralised after being tagged as a mole of the opposition elements for laying a siege on the National Assembly.
The source said: “Daura has been completely demoralised by the wide spread insinuations of working for the opposition when he took daring moves to protect the Presidency and the ruling party against the antics of the powerful opposition elements. The allegation of being a mole is utter balderdash!”
The source who is also close to security agencies pointed out that: “Spymasters all over the world can be sacrificed but not to the extent of rubbishing their integrity and reputation on the altar of political considerations, especially a spymaster created by the same system, considering the delicate and sensitive nature of intelligent services.”
However, the new development from the sacked Daura-born security chief has contradicted the report submitted by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Idris Ibrahim that Lawal Daura, has confessed that he deployed hooded Operatives of the Secret Service to the National Assembly complex based on intelligence report that unauthorized persons were planning to smuggle dangerous weapons and incriminating items into the Federal Legislative complex.
His purported confession was disclosed in an alleged interim investigation report submitted to the then Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
This article was written with contribution from PRNigeria
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