The female agent then proceeded to inform our correspondent that “a majority of security operatives drafted to Ekiti and Osun States during recent governorship elections there were from the South-South.” A lot of them went there to make sure those who are opposed to the president do not win the election.”
Some officials at the Department of Security Service (DSS), also known as State Security Services (SSS), are irate over President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to extend the tenure of the agency’s Director-General, Ita Ekpeyong, by another four years.
Mr. Ekpeyong first assumed office on September 7, 2010. His reappointment will run through September 2018, unless he is fired, as happened to his predecessor, Afakriya Gadzama.
Before his elevation to the top post at the agency, Mr. Ekpeyong had served as a state director of state security in states like Bauchi, Kwara, Lagos, Anambra, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Some of the officers who spoke with our correspondent said they were unhappy that the incumbent DG had done nothing to address the fact that they had not seen raises in their salaries for the past six years.
“This issue is affecting the morale of the officers and men of the agency. The DG is not making a case for us as long as he and a few of them are enjoying,” a top officer said, confidentially.
Another source accused Mr. Ekpeyong of continuing his predecessor’s unfortunate policy of “politicizing and tribalizing the agency.” He cited the example of security operatives who enjoyed certain posts for as long as seven years without being transferred.
“How do you explain the situation whereby you leave intelligence gathering officers to stay with politicians, traditional rulers, hoteliers, businessmen and others for seven years without posting them?” one officer grumbled.
“Some of us have become politicians with this action as we have been seeing ourselves now as part of the people we are protecting” added the anonymous security official.
“Professionalism is dying and this is why the act of intelligence gathering is no longer there. We are in trouble in this country because almost everything in the service has been politicized and compromised."
A female agent accused the current DG of favoring agents from the South-South, where Mr. Ekpeyong hails from. She said that the intelligence chief had become part of the push to return President Jonathan to office.
The female agent then proceeded to inform our correspondent that “a majority of security operatives drafted to Ekiti and Osun States during recent governorship elections there were from the South-South.” A lot of them went there to make sure those who are opposed to the president do not win the election.”
“Those officers had a mission. And they were well motivated for that. That was why the Mopol Commander, Mr. Gabriel Serenkele, who attacked and teargased the convoy of the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, was never queried.”
Mr. Serenkele is from Bayelsa State, Mr. Jonathan’s home state.
Following public outcry over the attack, Mr. Serenkele was transferred out of Ekiti State.