By Olayemi Esan
The Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU) has described the recent invitation extended to Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, by the Department of State Service (DSS) for questioning as a plot to silence him over his comments in recent times.
To this end, the youth advised Kukah not to honour the purported invitation, saying that some Nigerians have fallen victim of such invitation.
A statement issued by the SOKAPU National Youth leader, Issac John Sirjay, pointed to the case of late former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Obadiah Mailafia.
It observed how the operations in recent times extended invitations to some people who had at one time or the other accepted invitations, particularly persons considered to be critical of the nepotistic and clandestine leadership style of the Buhari administration.
“Lately, we mourned the sudden demise of Dr Obadiah Mailafia of blessed memory who until his death was a dogged critic of this administration and a regular visitor at one of the DSS facilities.
“Without ruling out any possibility of harm, we consider the invitation of Bishop Kukah by the DSS as one of such ploy designed to silence him at all cost.
“While we urge the Bishop to ignore such invitation by the DSS for the obvious reasons of threat to life and personal safety, we are urging the DSS to focus on the ravaging impact of insecurity, kidnapping and banditry across the country rather than distracting the Bishop who is only pointing the obvious about the decaying state of the country’s security architecture.
“It is rather unfortunate to note that with the recent declaration of bandits as terrorists by President Buhari, we had anticipated an invitation from the DSS to the likes of Sheikh Gumi who has always fronted and still fronts for terrorist bandit groups but the reverse is, however, the case.
“In light of the above, it suffices to state boldly that the DSS has unarguably deviated from its core mandate of protecting national security and has become a willing tool for the suppression of free speech.
“We, therefore, call for an independent investigation into the activities of the Nigerian Department of State Services with a view to restructuring the institution and its mode of operations in line with global best practices,” the statement added.
