How Sacked DSS Boss, Daura
How Sacked DSS Boss, Daura
serially betrayed his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, for money.
Meanwhile the assistant, Abdulwahab Abdulrahman, a retired senior
SSS official, said he left the agency because of the scale of corruption
and abuse there.
“I didn’t want my children to see news of my eventual arrest on TV,” he told newsmen.
Mr Daura, who led Nigeria’s domestic spy agency since 2015, was
abruptly fired on Tuesday by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo after he
ordered a siege on the National Assembly.
The siege, which many Nigerians have characterized as a coup
d’état, startled a nation that has struggled in the past two weeks to
keep pace with rapidly unfolding political stunts ahead of next year’s
general elections.
The cordon saw gun-wielding masked men blockading the federal
parliament building in central Abuja, denying access to lawmakers and
legislative staff. It was lifted several hours later, but only after Mr
Daura was summoned by Mr Osinbajo and summarily dismissed. The acting
president said the exercise did not receive authorisation.
Many Nigerians believe the move was to facilitate the removal of
Bukola Saraki as senate president as punishment for his leaving the
ruling APC last week.
But while such plot failed, it helped further galvanize public
outrage against Mr Daura, a controversial figure who in the past three
years managed to create for himself a notorious label as an outlawed
official responsible for illegal detention, clampdown on dissent and
disobedience of court orders.
Now, his former associate, Mr Abdulrahman, whom some described as
Mr Daura’s former “right-hand man”, has spoken out exclusively to
newsmen on what he said was Mr Daura’s darker side Nigerians never knew.
Mr Abdulrahman served as special assistant to Mr Daura until 2016.
Besides corruption, he said Mr Daura repeatedly betrayed President Buhari.
Messrs Abdulrahman and Daura were members of the Buhari campaign’s
security committee in the buildup to 2015 election. The committee was
led by the current Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau.
Mr Abdulrahman said he served as the secretary of the 25-member committee.
“I noticed immediately we started work that for Lawal Daura it is simply about the money,” he said. “In
one of earlier meetings he suggested that we should request for one
billion to start work. Where will Buhari see one billion to give us?”
newsmen could not independently verify the claim. Mr Daura could not also be reached as he remained in detention Wednesday.
Some of his aides told newsmen Mr Abdulrahaman was bitter after
being sacked by Mr Daura, and cautioned his claims be treated with
restraint. Mr Abdulrahman denied being sacked; he told this newspaper he
left of his own volition.
But while several other sources in the security agency confirmed
most of the allegations against Mr Daura, they told newsmen both men
worked together for years either for good or for bad till they parted
ways in 2016.
Still, they said the revelations, especially with Mr Abdulrahman
waiving any claim to anonymity, provide a rare opportunity for Nigerians
to get a glimpse of the illicit practices at a security agency that
should be one of the nation’s most revered, and how corruption and
partisanship have stunted the department’s potential.
Before, after 2015 election
Mr Abdulrahman said in the course of their work and as part of the
transition team after Mr Buhari won the election, Mr Daura “kept
producing fake reports about (Ita) Ekpenyong (his predecessor), but we
never knew what he was targeting,” until late.
He said Mr Daura soon developed the habit of going to Mr Buhari’s
influential cousin, Mamman Daura, to report Mr Ekpenyong and give
details of what the election committee was doing.
That way, he said Lawal Daura warmed his way into Mamman Daura’s
heart. He also said despite coming from the same neighbourhood in
Katsina state, Mr Buhari never knew Lawal Daura until 2015.
“He was introduced to the president by the late Senator Mustapha Bukar,” he said.
He also said Mr Daura was never a favourite of President Buhari
because of his “antecedents”, suggesting he was somehow imposed on him
by Mamman Daura and others close to him.
“When he was appointed he kept putting pressure on me and
Maikano, the current AO (admin officer) at the presidential villa to
come and work with him as SA. He assured me that what I will get under
him, I cannot get even as a Minister,” Mr Abdulrahman said.
Mr Maikano could not be reached to comment on the claim.
Mr Abdulrahman said Mr Daura feared the DG job may not be very easy
since he had never worked at the headquarters and was not an
operational staff.
“He said he wants the two of us to stabilise the service for him,” he quoted Mr Daura as saying. Mr Abdulrahman said he eventually agreed the offer after much pressure.
He claimed as the work commenced, “Daura was receiving money from everyone including the president’s enemies”.
Mr Abdulrahman said when they resumed, they always closed late at work, often at about 2am. “What are we doing was mostly: receiving Ghana must go filled with cash brought by enemies of government to him,” he said somewhat confirming he was part of whatever happened at the time.
“The rate of corruption on that fourth floor was too much and
the president doesn’t deserve this,” he said. “He will go and get
information on plans for (Senate president) Bukola (Saraki) and then
leak it to him,” he said.
Similar allegation emerged Tuesday after Mr Daura’s removal, with
many administration supporters accusing him of working for Mr Saraki
against the government. On Wednesday, Mr Saraki said claims he
compromised Mr Daura in respect of the National Assembly siege
constituted an “insult on the intelligence of Nigerians”.
But the two institutions under Messrs. Saraki and Daura clearly
enjoyed cooperation in the past. In the heated days of the National
Assembly’s standoff with the executive over the appointment of Ibrahim
Magu as head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, it was
mostly memos from the SSS that the lawmakers referenced as basis for
rejecting Mr Magu.
‘Brazen corruption’
At the SSS, Mr Abdulrahman said Mr Daura operated an repressive
administration that stamped on staff rights just as it did on
Nigerians’. In all, he said the scale of corruption at the agency was
shocking.
Such revelations, PREMIUM TIMES learnt, have already sent ripples
across the agency and its sister organisations, with senior officials
shuddering at the prospect of investigations after Mr Daura’s dismissal.
In the course of his interview with newsmen, Mr Abdulrahman
received multiple phone calls apparently from people appealing he should
not yet go public. “I’m sorry sir, I will speak,” he told one caller.
Mr Abdulrahman told this newspaper that at some point agents
working for Mr Daura stopped going to the bureau de change to carry out
transactions on his behalf. Rather, “they invite the secretary of
the bureau de change at that Sheraton (Hotel) gate to come to the office
late at night with their counting machines, counting dollars”, he said.
“When I had too much I decided to leave and I swore to the
directors who wanted me to stay because of their personal interest that
Daura will leave office in handcuffs because of what I saw.
“I was preaching to him that he needs to help Mr President
because you know you don’t deserve this office and he appointed you,
because of that he stopped my pension for two years until I threaten to
go to court,” he said.
On Mr Daura’s career history, Mr Abdulrahman said the former DG was
sacked from the SSS originally before his reappointment by Mr Buhari
because he was caught siphoning diesel from the SSS Academy in Kaduna.
“Before then, he was almost sacked when he was State Director
in Lagos. Tinubu, who was governor donated 20 vehicles to aid the work
of the service in the state; Fashola, who is Minister now, was the Chief
of Staff at the time, Lawal Daura took all the vehicles to Kano and
sold them off,” he claimed.
He also said Mr Daura had to be secretly taken away in Edo state because of how he was misusing staff stipends.
“Just like today, how they had to use the back door to ferry
him away, don’t you wonder why he was not taken back to the service
facility? He wouldn’t have survived it. I have been receiving calls all
day from some of our top directors and staff, everyone is in a joyous
mood today.
“In fact a director told me that all his life, he never drank
beer, but today, he will drink to celebrate how this service is finally
saved from destruction,” he said.
This newspaper did not also independently verify those claims.
Arrogance, disrespect to constituted authority
Mr Abdulrahman also said Mr Daura was too arrogant as DG of SSS.
He said he had no respect for the National Security Adviser,
Babagana Monguno, whom he should be reporting to. He also said he never
had any respect for the vice president, Mr Osinbajo.
“Whenever the Vice President calls for a meeting for 2 o’clock
Daura will come by 3 and will not apologies. There was a time they had
serious shouting match with Magu over the disrespect shown to the VP and
the VP had to ask Magu to keep quiet,” he said.
Asked what the real issue was between Mr Magu and the DG SSS, Mr
Abdulrahman said Mr Daura wanted Mr Magu to share information on high
profile cases with him
“Magu is a smart officer and he knew Daura wanted to use such
information to extract money from people. He told Daura to his face that
I can’t report to you, I only report to the president who appointed
me,” he said.
Mr Magu could not be reached Wednesday for comments.
The former SSS official recalled an interesting conversation
between a former NSA Sambo Dasuki (who is still in SSS captivity despite
court orders) and Mr Daura.
“Sambo Dasuki told Daura to be careful with this world,” he said, adding, “’I was one of the most powerful NSA, see me today. If you are not careful, you may replace me in this room one day’”.
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