By Emma Amaize
ASABA—Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, last night commended the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, for his “decisive step to save our hard earned democracy and the country from total embarrassment by sacking the Director- General of Department of State Security, DSS, Lawal Daura, who behaved in a manner, unheard of in democratic settings.
“We also commend the immediate appointment of Mr. Seiyefa Matthew, being the most senior Director in the Service, as Acting DG,” the South South umbrella group said in a statement by the National Secretary, Dr Alfred Mulade.
He said: “For the former DG, DSS, to deploy masked and heavily armed operatives, and constitute itself in a manner of an attack dog, to unlawfully barricade the National Assembly, the bastion of democracy and prevent legislators from gaining access, in glaring show of shame, as we have seen in the action of the sacked DG, DSS, is to say the least, an attack on democracy and a sheer ridicule of the collective will of the Nigerian people. It’s quite unfortunate.
“The democracy that PANDEF wants and yearns for is the one that has the three arms of government – the Legislative, Executive and the Judiciary and with each arm performing its assigned roles as enshrined in the constitution. On no account must any arm tend to usurp, intimidate or muzzle any other arm.
“We commend the doggedness, determination and patriotism of those lawmakers who stood by and spoke truth to power.
“It is our firm commitment that PANDEF will continue to support and encourage action that advances the cause of truth, peace and progress of our dear nation, Nigeria, as Acting President Osinbajo has done in removing the former DG, DSS, at such a critical of national embarrassment”, PANDEF said.