In his place, the President appointed Lawal Musa Daura as new head of the agency, which serves as Nigeria’s secret police. According to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Daura is returning to the SSS from retirement. He was born in Daura, Katsina State. Ita’s
removal has long been expected. Under him, the SSS became openly partisan, especially in the run-up to the 2015 general elections.
Rather than gathering intelligence necessary to make the country safe, the agency busied itself more with harassing and arresting opposition figures, ransacking firms and offices with ties to the APC and appearing on television to disparage opposition politicians and their party.
On November 21, 2014, the agency raided the APC data centre in Lagos, arresting its staffs and accusing the party of “cloning INEC Permanent Voters Card with the intention of hacking into INEC data base, corrupting it and replacing them with their own data”. The SSS is yet to prove that allegation till date.
The SSS also consistently disparaged the APC in the media, accusing the party and its leaders of being behind the deadly Boko Haram insurgency. And after the Osun election, the agency’s spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar, rushed to the media, claiming that some opposition APC politicians offered the Service’s personnel N14m bribe.
The SSS is yet to substantiate that allegation and no one has been charged to court for bribery. Buhari has related with the agency with suspicion since his assumption of duties at the presidential villa. He ordered a reorganization of the security arrangement at the presidential villa, an exercise that saw the SSS sidelined, and its operatives removed from key beats and restricted to guarding only the “outer perimeter” of the State House…… Ita Ekpenyong is still at d gate of Aso Rock trying to see if he can beg Buhari to pardon him…..
