Buhari Sacks DG DSS, Service Chiefs May Go

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday sacked the Director General of the Department of State Service, Mr. Ita Ekpenyong.

The Director of Communications in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Haruna Imrana, announced the appointment of Mr. Lawal Musa Daura as the Acting DG of the DSS.

The terse statement was issued by Imrana on behalf of the Head of Service, Mr. Danladi Kifasi.

The statement said Daura was born in Daura on August 5,1953.

The new Acting DG of DSS, who attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, from 1977 to 1980, started his career in the State Security Service in 1982 and rose to the rank of a director.

He was at one time the Deputy Director, Presidential Communications, Command and Control Centre, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, between 2003 and 2007.

Daura also served as State Director, Security Service, at various times for states like Kano, Sokoto, Edo, Lagos, Osun and Imo.

He attended various professional courses, both at home and abroad, including the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.

It will be recalled that there was a running battle between the DSS and the All Progressives Congress before the 2015 general elections.

The DSS had in January said that it had uncovered lists containing names and photographs of security personnel, foreigners and under-aged children on the registered members’ list of the APC.

The spokesperson of SSS, Marilyn Ogar, at a news conference in Abuja, had said that a video with a tutorial for hacking was also uncovered when the service raided a building in Lagos.

But the then opposition party had dismissed the allegation as hogwash.

The APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had stated, “We have always warned that our democracy is in clear and present danger, not just from desperate politicians, but also from institutions of state that have compromised in their roles and resorted to crass lawlessness. The DSS’ ‘findings’ today have given us another reason to repeat this warning.”

Meanwhile, President Buhari is set to sack the service chiefs, The PUNCH has learnt.

Presidency sources told one of our correspondents that all the service chiefs would be relieved of their appointments before the end of the month.

The service chiefs are the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh; Chief of Army Staff, Major General Kenneth Minimah; Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin; and Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall Adesola Amosu.

It was gathered that the President was considering leaving out the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase.(Punch)