DSS reacts to reports of its agents raiding ex NSA, Dasuki's Abuja residence

Press statement from the Department of State Security
1. The attention of the Department of State
Services (DSS) has been brought to the report
making rounds that its operatives illegally
blocked the residence of the former National
Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki (Col/Rtd),
in violation of a subsisting court order granting
him a relief to travel oversea for medical
services. This is to say the least that such report
is not only unfounded and malicious but aimed at
tarnishing the good image of the Service.
2. It may be recalled that SAMBO was initially arrested
and charged to court for unlawful possession of firearms
and money laundering, for which reason his international
passport was seized and on the order of the court,
returned to the registrar for custody. What has however
brought the seeming standoff between SAMBO and the
Service, despite the court-ordered release of his
international passport on 4th November, 2015, is his
refusal to appear before a Committee undertaking the
investigation of an entirely different case.
3. The public may wish to note that the government set
up the Committee to investigate procurement processes
relating to a two billion dollar ($2billion) arms
transaction by the last administration, under which
SAMBO was the NSA. It was on this premise that he was
invited by the Committee to shed more light on his
involvement in the deal. It, therefore, remains surprising
and shocking that SAMBO has refused to honour
invitations of the Committee but instead resorts to
grandstanding and subtle blackmail of the Service. His
refusal to appear before the Committee has left the
Service with no option than to adopt legal means to
ensure his attendance.
4. Therefore, without doubt, SAMBO is pulling all strings
available to him to evade justice and put the Service in
bad light. The simple fact is that the DSS is not
persecuting him. Nigerians are therefore enjoined to
disregard the impression being created by him. This
Service wishes to re-emphasise its commitment to the
rule of law and strict adherence to democratic ideals.
However, any person or group, no matter how highly
placed, that may wish to test the will of the present
democratic dispensation, will definitely be checked
through the legal provisions of the law.
Tony OPUIYO
Department of State Services,
Abuja.
5th November, 2015