TheCable

The All Progessives Congress (APC) has alleged that the Department of State Security (DSS) is being used to destabilise the party in Borno state.

The party warned against the arrest of its chairman in Borno, Ali Abubakar Dalori, for undisclosed reasons, adding that it was “capable of precipitating a crisis in an already volatile environment.”

The spokesperson of the DSS, Marilyn Ogar, had disclosed at a media briefing in Abuja that some politicians of “a prominent political party” were being investigated for alleged links with Boko Haram.

The APC through its national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday said that the situation in Borno was already very dire, “hence no one should add fuel to a raging fire simply because of scorched-earth politics.”

”The careless and clearly partisan statements being made by DSS Spokesperson Marilyn Ogar have shown all discerning Nigerians the direction in which the agency is leaning. However, it must still exercise great caution in order not to spark a needless crisis in Borno,” the party said.

”We have it on good authority that with the recent movement of Ali Modu Sheriff to the PDP, attempts are being made to destabilize the APC in Borno, using agencies of state like the DSS. The take-off point is the arrest of our chairman in the state on trumped-up charges.

”Let those who are seeking to trigger a crisis in Borno know that the people of the state are resolute in their determination to ensure a level playing field in the run-up to the 2015 election. It is curious that the DSS has suddenly unearth supposed offences committed by Hon Ali Abubakar Dalori to warrant his arrest, now that Sheriff has defected to the PDP.

”Again, we are compelled to warn the DSS that, as an organ of state, it cannot afford to be partisan. An agency being sustained by the taxpayers cannot turn around to hunt the same taxpayers. An agency that is supposed to protect the people of Nigeria cannot be the same agency being used to witch-hunt the opposition.”

It advised the DSS to stop making itself a tool in the hands of politicians, warning that the agency might ridicule itself and weaken its capacity to function effectively.

The APC “urged the DSS and other security agencies to concentrate their efforts on stopping the daily carnage being perpetrated in Borno and other states by Boko Haram, instead of allowing those who helped to precipitate the carnage in the first instance to further destabilise the state.”