Ideologies are not defeated with guns. They’re defeated by superior argument. But since President Muhammadu Buhari resumed in Aso Rock, jackboots and dark suits, words and guns have been at war. There have been deep security friction and vanishing red lines, all courtesy of the X-men around the president, leading from behind. It is unclear if ultimately this doesn’t undermine Buhari’s security.
Although the menace of Boko Haram has made security everybody’s business, when it comes to VIP protection, professionally, security cannot be an all-comers cup of tea. However, the security implications of the actions of men who surround President Buhari, which was in the news for all the wrong reasons last week must be laid bare.
The sacking of his Chief Security Officer Abdulrahman Mani, the spy who saved him, has affected moral in security circles, that some people feel that some aspects of the business may easily be compromised. Mani was not only withdrawn from the villa, he was, along with DSS megalomaniac Marlyn Ogar, redeployed to Ebonyi state, where operatives consider their Siberia. Not only that, he was, like Ogar, demoted to his previous rank before he moved into the Villa as Assistant director, admittedly a less than sublime status for the position of the CSO to the president.
A view from the Yellow House, headquarters of the nation’s spies, says that Lawal Daura is received with mixed feelings since becoming the new Director-General of the service based on the fate of his compatriot from Katsina, the disgraced CSO Mani. Knowledgeable people in security argue that Lawal Daura is a core professional who may return the service to its enviable height but he is coming short. Mani on the other hand, who has been seen to be victimized, was the operative attached to Buhari who escaped death by the whiskers when an attempt on Buhari’s life was made by Boko Haram last year in Kaduna. The two men emerged unhurt but what followed has made Mani a hero of Buhari’s supporters and the DSS. He was said to have swiftly organized the evacuation of his principal from the scene of the incident in a VW Golf that he commandeered, Rambo-style, and got the president out of harm’s way.
Operatives argue that a sack is not the way to reward distinguished service. Mani had been with Buhari for four years when the plates were half-full and no one was interested in the septuagenarian’s security, at least, not for pecuniary considerations.
At the time, sources declared that Mani could ill afford a decent automobile. But as soon as Buhari’s victory was secured, and a little before then, a group of top spies and military brass headed by the hard-to-humble Gen. Dambazau decided to put rings around Buhari’s perimeters. Others in the team include former DSS Director-General, Gadzama, former DSS Director, Ibrahim Audu and Lawal Daura who emerged as the DSS chief and Sale Ilo. Already Daura has dusted Ibrahim Audu and Sale Ilo out of retirement by appointing them as his Special Advisers. It is widely rumoured that Dambazzau will occupy the NSA position but presidency insiders say that Gen Buba Marwa rtd is preferred and is even believed to be on Buhari’s mission to South Africa in connection with the arms deal involving Oritsejafors plane that occasioned a misadventure between the two African countries.
But the intrigues continue. It is argued that the spirit in the DSS could further tumble because the reward system, has been tampered with. This whole thing has its roots in the sour grapes that existed between the former DG of the service, Eta Ekpenyong and this new team. The returning retirees have been at loggerheads with Eta for long. Being all in the class of 1984 and friends, Eta was said to have mistreated them during the Jonathan era and caused the retirement of some of them on flimsy excuses. They are therefore on a revenge mission.
This began with the redeployment of all DSS operatives away from the president even though by convention and global best practices they are in charge of VIP security and replaced with soldiers and policemen. It is said that two former presidents had advised Buhari against the action arguing that it would adversely affect the forces, but Buhari had been, typically, nonchalant. But in the thinking of the new team on the block, all of Eta’s men must leave. Besides there were fears that they had, on the orders of the defeated presidency, bugged the villa, which delayed Buhari’s moving in immediately until the place was debugged.
Mani’s offence is that when one Wuddi who served as Eta’s personal Assistant was posted to the Villa in the change of guards at the seat of power, Mani did not raise alarm. Besides, as a junior officer he had flexed his muscles too wildly even when the big fishes in security were involved. He is therefore assumed to be on Eta’s side and had to be dealt with. But Mani was said to have been removed for being too junior for presidential duties, which is a Director’s brief.
However, President Buhari had been contacted earlier. When Eta sought Buhari’s permission to bring a Director of Buhari’s choice, if he had one in mind, Buhari was said to have asked if anything was wrong with Mani. So Eta promoted Mani in order to kit him up for the job. Mani’s father was Buhari’s senior in Daura secondary school.
This web of intrigues is not likely to simply vanish. It has the potential of causing ripples in security circles thus creating, if care is not taken, a new tail to wag the dog.
