Former State Department DSS Director Mike Ejiofor revealed why security agencies did not arrest Labor vice-presidential candidate Datty Baba Ahmed for recent statements. Ejiofor said that the DSS did not arrest Baba-Ahmed because the security services did not have concrete evidence of the invitation.
Datti had said in his Channels Television interview that the inauguration of president-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29 could mean the end of democracy in Nigeria.
Datti’s comments sparked controversy across Nigeria, with some of Tinubu’s supporters calling for his arrest.
Speaking on the matter, Ejiofor, while appearing on Arise TV on Friday, said-
“For the vice president of the labour party, I listened to his interview, and since it has gone viral, he made a personal statement which he is entitled to. But if he goes ahead, I believe that the SSS, if they have any evidence of pursuing that to its logical conclusion, action will be taken because nobody is above the law.
“In fact, this morning, as I was going through my WhatsApp messages, I also saw a similar thing attributed to the former vice-president in 2015, it was in Channels Television, Seun Okinbaloye, when he was asking a similar question when they said that they would form a parallel government then the government did not do anything.
“So why this particular one? I can tell you that the SSS would continue to monitor events as they unfold, and anybody, no matter how highly placed or how old you are, would be brought before the law. I believe the vice presidential candidate made a statement, and the SSS has not had any concrete evidence. I am expressing my opinion to have invited him; otherwise, they would have invited him.
“You recall what I told you earlier? The statement is also credited to the former vice president and the statement made by the SSS warning politicians to desist from the issue of the interim government because the interim government is not only unconstitutional, it is illegal. So if the SSS had come to arrest either the Labour Party vice presidential candidate, you know, the conflagration it would have also brought to the country. So we manage our sensibility and see how we can handle this without compromising the standard of security.”
