December 29, (THEWILL) – The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has condemned what it called a siege on its office in Abuja by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
The CISLAC executive director, Auwal Musa-Rafsanjani, in a six-paragraph letter to the DSS, called on the service to investigate the incident.
The letter, dated December 29, and addressed to the director-general of the service, Yusuf Bichi, noted that the DSS operatives stormed the office on Monday.
CISLAC alleged that the operatives insisted on seeing the chief security officer of the organisation in a manner that left much to be desired.
Describing the action of the operatives as unprofessional, CISLAC wrote that on Monday, 27th of December 2021, “Operatives of your agency, the Department of State Security Services (DSS) stormed the premises of our office, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, the National Chapter of Transparency International, TI Nigeria at No 16 POW Mafemi Crescent, Off Solomon Lar Way, Jabi.
“Laying siege, the operatives demanded to see the Chief Security Officer of the building. On learning about this, our initial thought was that these were individuals masquerading as DSS agents considering the fact that this was not just during the holiday period, but it was on a day declared as a public holiday by the federal government of Nigeria.”
CISLAC, a non-governmental organisation whose activities revolve mostly around the National Assembly, has been at the forefront of legislative advocacy and legislation.
While noting that the purpose of the strange visit remains unclear, Musa said there was no prior notice, invitation or pending request from the SSS regarding any visit.
“However, when we put a call through to the number dropped with our office security personnel, an individual further confirmed that he was an agent of your agency providing details of his position.
“Sir, considering recent activities of criminals using official security covers to perpetrate wanton criminalities in the recent past, we want you to use your good office to investigate those who carried out this visit and for what purpose(s).
“We will also request that you call these operatives to order and charge them to be civil in their approach and not militarize our nascent democracy.
“At this point, we cannot jump into conclusion as to the exact reasons behind this gestapo approach; however, this kind of unprofessional visits clearly violates existential rights guaranteed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and puts the country on a global map of ‘bad policing’ and seen shrinking voices of citizens demanding for good governance in the interest of all.
“Visits like these further feed fears that the country is gradually snowballing into autocracy with the regular abuse of powers from those parading themselves as agents of the state.
“As an organization, we believe in the rule of law. We have complied with all statutes and thereby have not violated any law.
“We urge you to use your good office to put an end to this trend of shrinking civic space and the ongoing attempt to weaken democratic institutions to which the civil society community represents an aspect, the letter partly read.”
Efforts made to reach the spokesman of the service, Peter Ifunanya, for his reaction on the development were unsuccessful as at the time of this report.
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