The Peoples Democratic Party has alleged that the Director General of the Department of State Services, Mr. Lawal Daura, is a member of the governing party, the All Progressives Congress.
According to the PDP, With this, Daura’s membership of the ruling party raises a fundamental question about his ability to preside over the nation’s security apparatus without being partial.
Speaking at a press briefing after the weekly meeting of the members of the National Working Committee of the party in Abuja, the Acting National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, alleged that Daura was the chairman of the Intelligence Committee of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.
The briefing was attended by some members of the party’s NWC.
Secondus said the party decided to address the press conference with the aim of bringing to the notice of Nigerians and the international community, happenings in the country.
He said, “The NWC notes that this unfortunate development has been the case since the appointment of the new Director General of the DSS, Alhaji Lawal Daura, whom we learnt was a critical intelligence stakeholder of the APC as a card-carrying member of that party during the campaigns. This is ungodly and unacceptable. The President should review his appointment.
“We do hope that in his new job, the Director General of DSS is not mixing issues on the APC presidential candidate and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, hence the need for Mr. President to rein him in, as the development is capable of eroding the cherished independence of the judiciary and the electoral commission, a sine qua non for a virile democracy, which guarantees our unity and stability as a nation.”
But in a swift reaction, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said his party sympathised with the PDP, adding it was obvious that the PDP could no longer cope with the popularity of President Muhammadu Buhari, hence the desire of the opposition party to fabricate stories.
Mohammed also wondered whether being a member of the Intelligence Committee of the APC Presidential Campaign was enough to disqualify Daura, if indeed he was a member.
He said, “We clearly understand the difficulty of the PDP and honestly sympathise with them. In less than two months, President Buhari’s administration is such a roaring success and the President’s popularity growing daily that the PDP has to fabricate stories aimed at discrediting the APC led government. “Unfortunately, Nigerians are not falling for the gimmick. Nigerians are seeing concrete evidence of good governance, including but not limited to improved power supply, transparency in governance, readmission into the comity of civilised nations and new pride and confidence in being a Nigerian.
“If the PDP wants, they can hold 10 press conferences a day. As long as the President continues to justify the expectations of Nigerians their press conferences will only serve as entertainment to relieve boredom.”
