Can the President of Nigeria wake up from sleep and direct that an organization set up by law should no longer perform its statutory functions without the amendment of the law setting up that organization? President Muhammadu Buhari is being accused of violating the laws setting up the Department of State Services (DSS) by unilaterally directing that part of the functions of the organization should be ceded to the military.?
The Directive by President Muhammadu Buhari that operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) should not provide close body security to him have been described as unconstitutional and an indication that the President does not know the statutory role of the DSS.
Speaking to ionigeria.com on the issue, a legal luminary and former Attorney General of Bayelsa State, Mr. Peter Egbegi averred that “the Department of State Services (DSS) is the primary domestic intelligence agency of Nigeria. It is primarily responsible for intelligence gathering within the country and for the protection of senior government officials, particularly the President and state governors”
According to the legal practitioner, the president does not have the power to stop them from performing their jobs He went on to describe President Buhari’s directive as a carry-over from his military days when the military was in charge of protecting the Head of State.
Also commenting on the issue in an interview with Vanguard newspaper, a security consultant and former Director of the Department of Security Service, Mike Ejiofor said “on one hand, the president is directing that the military check points be withdrawn to perform their military duty. How can you now entrust the life of the president to the military when there are people who are statutorily charged with the responsibility?
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