Lawal Daura has been relieved of his duties hours after orchestrating the siege on the National Assembly yesterday.
Lawal Daura
The plot was like that of a movie, leaving trained security and
intelligence officials confused. At the end of it, Lawal Daura, then
head of one of Nigeria’s foremost security agencies was whisked away
while his well trained security aides waited for him.
Multiple sources at the Nigerian Presidency have told PREMIUM TIMES
how Mr Daura, former Director-General of State Security Service, (SSS),
was sacked and arrested on the orders of Acting President Yemi Osinbajo
on Tuesday.
Mr Daura was sacked after masked SSS operatives laid siege to the
National Assembly complex preventing lawmakers and civil servants from
gaining access into the building.
The siege was only lifted about an hour after Mr Daura’s sack.
OSINBAJO OUTRAGED
Sources at the presidential villa said Mr Osinbajo, who has been in
charge since President Muhammadu Buhari proceeded on a 10 day vacation
to the UK, was outraged by the actions of the SSS.
“When the siege began, the acting president quickly went to
action and was able to gather preliminary information of what was going
on after which he invited some of the security chiefs concerned for a
briefing,” one of the sources said.
He said those invited include the Inspector-General of Police,
Ibrahim Idris and the former DG, Mr Daura. This platform earlier
reported Mr Osinbajo’s meeting with both officials.
The source also said the acting president was briefed earlier by National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno.
“When Lawal Daura came in, the acting president asked him who
cleared him to order operatives to lay siege on the National Assembly;
and his response was ‘shocking’.
“He simply said it’s within his powers and that he is only
answerable to the President and Commander-in-Chief who appointed him,” the source said.
The source also said unknown to Mr Daura, the acting president had
already spoken to Mr Buhari after initial reports indicated that Mr
Daura “was in play with President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki.”
After his response, Mr Osinbajo told his media aide, Laolu Akande,
to immediately issue a statement announcing the sack of Mr Daura.
“The acting president also asked the National Security Adviser
to hand over the sacked DG to the police for further investigation,” he said.
DAURA ARRESTED
Another source at the Villa , who witnessed the drama that followed
the directive from Mr Osinbajo, said as soon as his arrest was ordered,
the Aide De Camp (ADC) to Mr Osinbajo was seen rushing to the
ceremonial gate, where the Mobile Police Force office is located.
“The ADC returned to the VP wing with some mobile police
officers in a rush and asked that a vehicle should be brought
immediately to the rear area for (Daura’s) evacuation.
“We thought the VP, who is the only one whose convoy uses that
place, was about to go out and there was a need for additional vehicle.
An SUV was ‘scrambled’ but the ADC said they should bring a tinted Hilux
van,” he said.
Meanwhile, the source said Mr Daura ‘s convoy and personal security
were waiting for him, like they normally do, at the administration gate
(a separate one from the ceremonial gate) not knowing what was going on
inside.
“All of them thought the DG was still meeting with the acting
president until the convoy was asked to return to headquarters empty,” he said.
Another source, a former director in the SSS who worked with Mr
Daura, said he (Daura) is currently being detained at the Federal
Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS), in Abuja.
“The fact that he was handed over to SARS and detained in a guest
house (for high profile suspects) should give you an indication of how
the government is handling this matter. He is now considered a suspected
serious criminal,” he said.
He also said a combined team of both the police and SSS “would have begun interrogating Mr Daura by now.”
THE REPLACEMENT
It was reported how Mr Daura’s security details returned to the SSS headquarters without their principal.
A senior official at the SSS said the security details, after
waiting for Mr Daura to come out from the meeting with the vice
president, simply received an order from a director at the agency that
they return to the agency’s headquarters.
By then, an acting Director-General had been named for the SSS.
Matthew Seiyefa, was until his appointment the director in charge
of the Institute of Security Studies (ISS), an institution established
in 2005 as the cardinal training institution for the SSS.
Mr. Seiyefa was the most senior official at the SSS after Mr Daura.
He briefly met with Mr Osinbajo on Tuesday. The acting DG, an indigene
of Bayelsa State, was director of operations between 2007 and 2010 when
Afakriya Gadzama ran the agency.
