DSS-EFCC clash shows no one is in charge of this govt, says PDP senator

Abiodun Olujimi, senator representing Ekiti south, says no one is in charge of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government.

Olujimi said this on Wednesday while contributing to the debate on a motion on the standoff between operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The motion was sponsored by Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi west.

On Tuesday, the DSS prevented the anti-graft agency from arresting Ita Ekpeyong, former director-general of DSS, and Ayo Oke, sacked director-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

Olujimi said this is the first time “we will see gross irresponsibility in government” where no one would come in between two agencies.

“The truth is that we cannot go to a house of a security agent, a man who have kept the secrets of Nigeria for so long and just try to arrest him like chicken,” Olujimi said.

“There has to be someone we can hold responsible when two brothers are fighting, the person that is supposed to be held responsible is not doing his work.

“This is the first time we will see gross irresponsibility in government whereby there is on one to come in between two agencies. These two agencies report to one person – the presidency and now we find them fighting on the pages of newspapers, it’s a shame.

“We are calling on Mr President to sit up. We rejected Magu as the chairman of the EFCC and up till today nothing has been said.

“The senate is being defiled, nobody has said we need to solve the issues. There are 170 million Nigerians and all of a sudden we are seeing that one person is the only one? Nobody is in charge of this government.”

Earlier, Melaye said the standoff between the EFCC and DSS was an embarrassment before the international community.

“Mr President the media and social media, print and electronic have been awash with a disaster that took place yesterday,” he said.

“The EFCC went to the residence of the DG of the SSS Ita Ekpeyong to effect an arrest and the SSS stopped the EFCC from arresting him, they created an environmental brouhaha, the whole environment of neighbours were stopped from lawfully gaining entrance to their homes and causing confusion.

“The same yesterday the EFCC the former DG NIA mr Oke, officers of the NIA agency stopped that arrest. We will recall that the same director of SSS have written this senate before now on Mr Magu, the acting chairman of EFCC. Mr President we are not to say who is to blame but to say we have been embarrassed before the international community that two sister agencies will engage in fisticuffs and stoppage of arrest. This is recipe for national disaster.”

The senate also resolved to set up an adhoc committee to investigate the matter.