Seven months after 7 DSS Officers went missing in Lagos…

Seven months of pains, tears and sorrows, as the Federal Government and DSS are still mute on the whereabouts of seven Department of State Security (DSS) officers that went missing 7 months ago at the Ikorodu area of Lagos.

One of the families have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari to open a thorough investigation and unfold the mystery behind their disappearance. But it is sad, that up till now nothing has been done or said by the Federal government or DSS on their whereabouts.

Let Nigerians ask why the DSS should keep silent on the sudden disappearance of their gallant officers who were on national assignment…What a great country that one will put his or her life down for?.

Also petitioned in the letter titled: “A plea for thorough investigation into the case of seven missing DSS operatives with Lagos Command,” were the Senate, the Inspector General of the Police (IGP) ,Solomon Arase and the Attorney -General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami.

Note:

Seven DSS officers went on a mission to rescue the kidnapped wife of Deputy MD Sun Newspaper on the 15^th of September 2015.  Since then till now, no word or any form of contact from the 7 of them till today, while the woman was released two days later by the kidnappers.

A copy of the petition below: 

• My missing brother’s wife confirmed that her husband told her that they were going for the rescue of a kidnapped woman in Ikorodu contrary to ubiquitous newspaper and online reports that they were going to hunt down pipeline vandals or going for the funeral of their fallen colleague. This matter needs to be investigated.
• My family members back home in Nigeria went to the DSS office in Lagos many times where my brother’s director assured them that they went to work and were kidnapped and that the DSS is negotiating for their release. At other times the director said that the military and the Navy have taken over the matter. The question is: How could the military and Navy take over the investigation of a kidnap case of highly placed senior officers of DSS when they (the DSS) are adept at cracking high profile kidnap cases. We, and the entire Nigerians, smelt the rat somewhere. It is already 4 months since they disappeared. Sir, I ask: for how long will this negotiation last? We demand an urgent official pronouncement on this matter. It is long overdue.
• My conclusion is that the 7 DSS operators left for Ikorodu from the DSS office in Lagos, with official vehicles under OFFICIAL INSTRUCTION and up till today never came back.It will amount to total blackmail and a most unforgiving case of transgression should the DSS permanently silence them by keeping silent on their matter ad infinitum.
• Let Nigerians demand why the DSS should kept silent on the sudden disappearance of their gallant officers who were on national assignment and refuse to even ask their families how they have been faring!
• It became expediently imperative to write this letter to the president, Distinguished Senators and, indeed, Nigerians,given our suspicion that an attempt is being made to sweep many facts under the carpet. I, and the rest of my family members, need to fight back. While we strongly believe that EVERY HIDDEN SCHEMING on this matter must be exposed in the end, we are particularly worried about the fate of our brother’s life.
• From many newspaper and online reports Arepo in Ikorodu area where this incident took place is shamefully and deplorably constructed on a fragileedifice of danger,sham, disorder, oppression and recklessness. These are crimes perpetrated by corrupt politicians and other criminals who collaborate with pipeline vandals to loot this great nation. I am confident that President Muhammadu Buhari is vehemently committed to restoring the lost hopes of common men and women like us.
• This case is being threatened by a conspiracy of silence. Why would this matter made to suffer from suspected intrigues of dismissal and obvious insouciance? It must be stated that the silenced even in death fights back!
• DSS office in Lagos who claimed that ‘they went to work’ has not cared to ask the wives of the missing officers how they fared.
• The directors of DSS all over Nigeria need to ask questions about the whereabouts of their gallant officers!Common sense tells us that this is a simplest gesture, and demonstration, of espiritde corps among the rank and file. Does it mean that the DSSethicsnegates this salient attribute of camaraderie among officers?
• I strongly reject this aggressive and inhuman tendency from the DSS. These missing guys are human beings with wives and children yet they are being treated like common animals. This is a show of aggressive impunity and corrosive erosion of professionalismand must be rejected by well-meaning Nigerians.