Presidency gives details on Daura, NASS siege

Mr. Lawal Daura

The Presidency on Wednesday said the former Director-General of the Department of State Service (DSS), Mr. Lawal Daura, who was dismissed last week, was being debriefed and was not under detention.

Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, spoke on an Arsise TV programme anchored by Reuben Abati.

Adesina explained that Daura, with a lot of security matters at his disposal, had to be properly debriefed before he can be totally freed.

He said, “I wouldn’t call that detention really. You know that a person of that caliber (Daura) needed to be debriefed and he needs to hand over properly.

“This is security. On security at that level, you don’t ask the man to go. No. There must be proper debriefing and handing over.

“Whether we like it or not, there were some milestone achievements under Daura – the Chibok girls’ kidnap, which happened under the government you (Abati) served, on which there was no headway (the release of some of them happened under Daura).

“There is this problem that it is not everything that the hunter sees in the forest that he talks about. But at the risk of revealing something, l know that a breakthrough was about being achieved about Leah Sharibu before what happened to the DG, DSS happened.

“Then, do you think he should walk away without handing over to whoever is succeeding him? That is why there has to be that interface between him and his former subordinates who are now running the show for awhile.”

Adesina noted that the DSS siege had the tendency to harm democracy and portray the government in bad light, affirming that the presidency was not consulted before that decision was taken.

He added, “People always want to hear what they think is the story. The story has been told that there was a blockade at the National Assembly, which was not authorized and it had the tendency of hurting democracy.

“It had the tendency of making government look bad and the person, who was behind that blockade, faced the music. If there was consultation, the presidency might not have authorized it.”