Dasuki, Obua, and the rest of us

Now the spooks are getting spooked. The last few days have not been rosy for retired soldier and immediate past national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, just like the chief security officer to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Gordon Obua. They have been force fed some of the bitter mixture they pushed down the throats of others while they held sway in office. Dasuki did not enjoy the Eid al-Fitri holiday as men of the Department of State Security were in his houses in Abuja and Sokoto to execute a search warrant. Similarly, men of the secret police arrested Obua last Thursday after wearing him out by asking him to report daily from July 8 to 16 when he was arrested. He is presently on a hunger strike as this newspaper reported on Saturday.

A rather funny detail but significant in the sociopolitical milieu of our country is the fact that Dasuki maintains two houses at Asokoro, Abuja. It is the way the rich and powerful live here. After a siege lasting over 12 hours, Dasuki’s passport was seized with other items like assault rifles, magazine gears, and military-related gears, based on a statement by the DSS. It also claimed that 12 new vehicles were recovered with five of them bullet proof. Above all, the former national security adviser was accused of treasonable felony in the statement issued by a certain Tony Opiuyo. That was the icing on the cake, so far, of this saga.

Dasuki followed with a lengthy interview in The Nation newspaper on Saturday, July 18. The choice of the newspaper was instructive as the paper’s owner is a leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) making the interview literally a case of taking the battle to the gate of the enemy. While I would not attempt a discourse analysis of the interview, it is interesting that Dasuki was quick to proclaim his innocence and that he did not maltreat any Nigerian while in office. He went on to add that as a retired military officer and former NSA, he deserved better treatment. His account did not tally with that of the DSS as he claimed that nine vehicles were taken from his house not the 12 the agency said. Surely, one party is lying.

As a feature of the debauchery common with the ruling class in Nigeria, Dasuki claimed that DSS took $40, 000 cash from his house as well. At the current rate, that’s nearly N10 million. It is up to the DSS to prove that Dasuki was involved in treasonable felony and he must be allowed to have his day in court. If he is culpable of embezzling any fund under his watch as the national security adviser, he must pay back every dime traceable to him. Quite interesting that he is now preaching the rule of law when the government he served took some illegal steps as well. A case that comes to mind was the one involving the seizure of former Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the present Emir of Kano. Sanusi’s passport was seized on February 20, 2014 and a Federal High Court ordered its return on April 4, 2014 with N50 million as damages and public apology. The Jonathan government returned the passport only on November 8 after he reconciled with the former president. Maybe I missed it; I don’t have a record of anything that Dasuki said on the incident.

A rather worrisome aspect of the interview was where he claimed that he does not deserve the treatment he is getting because he helped APC to power. “I gave my best for this transition, which led to the victory of the opposition over the ruling party,” he said. Hopefully, Jonathan would find it in his heart to forgive his former security adviser whose achievement in office includes helping opposition to take over from his boss. No doubt, the days ahead would bring more revelation of what happened in the last government and how we got to where we are presently.

Obua’s case is equally a curious one. The man who is more famous for the brusque manner he expelled a German radio correspondent from Aso Rock is leveraging on the media to get his case across to Nigerians, wonders, they say, shall never end. He did not restore the journalist’s accreditation till he left office. The two men’s liberty should not be curtailed in any way whatsoever, but if found to have committed any crime in the course of their service, they should pay the price. But the folks that arrested them and strutting around like peacocks today should remember the words of Winston Churchill, former British prime minister, “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” Treat others today the way you want to be treated after you leave office.