Precisely on August 14, 2014, the blunt and fearless Media Director
of the Department of State Services (DSS), Marilyn Ogar shocked
Nigerians with the stunning revelation that politicians of a particular
“political party” offered N14million to two top officials of the secret
intelligence service to sway the just concluded Osun gubernatorial
election in favour the party.
The DSS spokesperson told puzzled media representatives, during a
weekly press briefing held at the National Security Information Centre,
Abuja, that a director of the DSS, an operative on election duty in Osun
was offered N4million and N10million for another superior officer to
enable them sway the electorate or turn the results in favour of the All
Progressives Congress (APC).
When Ogar made the accusation, she deliberately refused to call the
concerned party by name but her constant allusions to the desperation of
officials of the opposition party and the unfolding altercation between
the secret service and the APC left nobody in doubt about which party
was responsible for the alleged infringement.
Before the latest dispute, Ogar had engaged politicians in verbal
attacks over their desperation and eagerness to drag security agencies,
especially the DSS, into politics warning that doing so would not augur
well for the country.
The tempo of the misunderstanding between the opposition APC and the
DSS has since deepened with public opinion shifting against the DSS for
employing double standards in its methods and dealings with politicians
and political parties.
Since Marilyn Ogar threw the bribe “bomb” into the charged political
atmosphere, Nigerians have derided the motive of the disclosure, which
was intended to bring applause to the service. Many commentators have
said that as positive as the disclosure may have been it has
inadvertently backfired because of the way it was handled and the matter
has instead placed the DSS and its officials on the negative spotlight.
Some observers of the unfolding drama have even claimed that the
alleged bribe was either cooked up by the DSS officials to spit the
opposition or that even if it was true, the money was rejected because
the operatives feared a likely backlash should the deal leak knowing
that trading with politicians can sometimes become a bad, dangerous
business.
Marilyn Ogar literarily celebrated the fact that the All Progressives
Congress (APC) incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola was declared winner
of the election reasoning that since the alleged bribe was calculated as
an inducement to influence security men to change or alter the outcome
of the election, when the APC feared that it would lose the polls, the
DSS would have been blamed if PDP had won.
“We thank God that APC won the election in Osun State. There was no
bomb blast because there were enough security personnel on ground. The
security forces that assisted in the election in Edo State were the same
ones that went to Ondo, Anambra and Ekiti,” Marilyn said.
Explaining that the director who was approached by the politician,
was an officer in charge of coordinating election duties in Osun, the
DSS spokesperson said only promises of N4 million and N10 million each
were made but that no money actually exchanged hands or were brought to
the scene of the meeting with officials of the agency.
She however remarked that, “It is because the money was declined,
that is why the political party is presently having a running battle
with the DSS. Thank God the APC won the election. Its loss would have
been blamed on the DSS,” the officer said and thereafter, many members
of the APC have been questioned by the DSS on events related to the
election especially the bribe scandal.
The security officer, in justifying the crackdown, condemned the
alleged attempt by politicians to bribe DSS officials describing the
action as, “a waste of time and an effort in futility.” She stressed
that DSS operatives were properly trained, well paid professionals who
would not compromise values and the ethics of their profession by
collecting bribes.
“We are well paid. I will say it categorically that our operations
are well funded. The N14 million that was offered cannot be compared to
the N200 million that was spent by the DSS. Which one will you go for,
if you were an operative? People should stop using money to entice
security agencies. The Federal Government and the people of Nigeria who
engaged us have the capability to take care of us.
“I want to tell you that there is a big man occupying a very
sensitive position in Osun State. The man should thank his God that it
is not the DSS that arrested him with the huge sums of money he was
found with,” Ogar remarked even though she could not explain whether the
big man was the person who offered the DSS operatives the bribe.
Ogar was however forceful when she said: “I am emphatically repeating
my call that politicians should leave the agency and other security
organs out of politics,” explaining further that DSS officers on
election security duties and related operations are usually paid their
allowances and other sundry entitlements in advance to insulate or
prevent them from every form of gratifications.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) refused to be intimidated and
promptly launched an attack on Marilyn Ogar as well as the Department of
State Service over the bribe allegations especially when the DSS
quizzed some of its officials for questioning and demanded the
resignation or reassignment of the media director.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who
had some personal axe to grind with the agency, described the allegation
as baseless even as he challenged Ogar and the agency to back the
accusations with “evidence, knowledge and facts.”
The party also promptly went to court to seek injunction restraining
the DSS from further arrests or harassment of its officials in a
desperate attempt to clear its name.
APC did not mince words in describing the accusation that the party
proposed to give DSS officers N14 million bribe as “lies and cheap
blackmail by a conspiratorial organisation,” querying why the person who
made the offer was not arrested by the DSS.
Continuing, the APC said: “Apparently, Ogar has never heard of a
‘sting operation’ that is widely used by security agencies to catch a
person who is committing a crime. The allegation by Ogar would have been
sweet in her mouth had the DSS mounted a sting operation to catch
whoever was offering the alleged bribe, and then prosecute him or her.’’
The party also advised Ogar and the entire DSS to hide their guns,
facial coverings and their preferences when next they are posted to
provide security during elections in any part of the country, adding
that elections are not war but a celebration of democracy.
APC said: “It is sad that a spokesperson of the DSS does not know
that there is no offence called ‘loitering’ under the Nigerian laws. For
Ogar to claim on national television that the APC National Publicity
Secretary and other officials were arrested for ‘loitering’ in Oshogbo
on the eve of the governorship election is the height of ignorance and
constitutes a great embarrassment to the DSS.
“It is even worse that the so-called spokesperson made a joke out of
such a faux pas by an agency that is supposed to be non-partisan. How
can a spokesperson of a sensitive government agency not understand that
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides for freedom
of movement?
“On what basis did Ogar question what the APC National Publicity
Secretary or any of its officials doing in Osun, when the same fellow
has not questioned the presence of Musiliu Obanikoro, Chris Uba and
others who came to the state or are these people above the laws?,” the
party queried.
Meanwhile, politicians who commented on the face-off blamed the DSS
for being too hasty and uncompromising in reacting to the actions of
opposition parties as opposed to when it relates with members of the
ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP].
A public commentator and politician, Chief Winston Odumu-Ojobi who
spoke first said: “it is unfortunate for the DSS to have made the bribe
allegation. The agency should not act in a way that would make the
public think it is supporting the ruling party or helping to heat up the
political space.
Chief Odumu–Ojobi who is the former Deputy National Chairman [North]
of the United Nigeria Peoples Party (UNPP) remarked that: “The bribe
allegation should not have happened. It is unwarranted and uncalled for
and everyone, including the security agencies should help the Osun
election winner [Governor Rauf Aregbesola] and Osun state settle down in
peace to governance.
Odumu–Ojobi argued that since “the PDP and Mr. President have
congratulated the winner, what any sensible politician or security
organisation should do now is to sheath their swords and concentrate on
how to defeat the insurgents decimating the northeast part of the
country instead of brewing unnecessary controversies.”
National Secretary of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties
[CNPP], Chief Willy Ezeugwu, on his part said: “The CNPP does not have
any position on the matter since we do not belong to the APC. Talking
personally however, I think the controversy is simply unnecessary
although I do not have the full details of the matter and what really
took place that the DSS was complaining about.”
Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council [IPAC], Dr. Tanko Yunusa
who was the Vice Presidential Candidate of the National Conscience
Party (NCP) in the 2011 presidential election advised the DSS not to
bring itself to ridicule by openly supporting the ruling party in
elections or dragging itself into unnecessary controversies that may
sway public opinion against the agency.
He said the opposition political parties and other Nigerians are also
entitled to the protection that the DSS offers appealing that the
agency should equally provide proper security cover that are governed by
the same rules which apply to the government, the PDP and their
officers to enable the security agency come out clean always without
appearing to be partisan or biased in its actions.
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