I read with chagrin a social media write-up captioned "RUMBLES IN DSS: CORRUPTION AND NEPOTISM IN NIGERIA'S SECRET SERVICE (DSS) AMIDST RETENTION OF MR YUSUF BICHI AS DIRECTOR GENERAL". The composition repletes with debased arguments exemplifying the very nature of our society in which many believe that to get to the top, you have to deploy all manner of character assassination to bring down the perceived stumbling block to your ambition.

I was not surprised when I came across a write-up by the Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) in which the body described as 'unacceptable' the sacking of all the Service Chiefs and sparing the Director-General State Services (DGSS), Yusuf Bichi, CFR by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. It didn't take me a split second to figure out that HURIWA's action was not carried out in isolation. There is a saying in the South West where I come from that, the drummers for the dancing water lilies we see on the surface of the water are actually beneath the water. Bichi should have expected this and more are certain to come. In the build-up to any general elections in Nigeria, especially when the incumbent President has served his two terms, hopes are usually high among high ranking officers in the military, the Police, Department of State Services (DSS) and other para- military agencies with the possibility (usually a norm) of ascending to the highest rung of the ladder in the leadership structure. Such hopes were expected to be super high as we inched towards the last Presidential election, putting in mind the hues and cries from the general public about the perceived inefficiency of the country's security architecture, with many calling for leadership change in the military. 

As the dust raised by the 2023 general elections is beginning to settle, a mighty political wind is growing a speck of thicker dust with the potential to mar an amicable relationship between the incoming executive and leadership of the National Assembly. With the results from all, except a few, polling units declared, none of the four major political parties has a clear majority to form the leadership of the National Assembly. At the moment, about 35 House of Representative seats has not been declared because of the cancellation of results in some polling units across the federation.

Recently, the DSS in a bid to preserve democratic ethos in the country, issued a statement alerting well meaning Nigerians of perceived grand plans by subversive elements to truncate democracy. The Secret Olokpa claimed that some aggrieved politicians, unfavorably disposed to the outcome of the 25th February poll, are clandestinely contriving to truncate democracy by all means possible.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has once again resorted to cheap rhetoric in a bid to remain relevant in Nigeria’s political arena. This is without minding the tainting effect such could have on the dynamics of the current political structure.

The uproar surrounding the arrest and detention of 3 Israeli filmmakers in Nigeria by the Department of State Services is unnecessary and misconceived. The desperate move exhibited by the trio in hastily releasing a video to paint the country and the intelligence agency in bad light further justifies an innate motive to cast aspersions.