- The secret police described the report as laughable.
- DSS also debunked claims of in-fighting in the service
- It denied carting away important documents from ICPC and CCB offices
The Department of State Services says reports making the rounds that it arrested Senator Abdulaziz Yari for refusing to take President Bola Tinubu’s phone call are misleading and laughable.
Within Nigeria had earlier reported how the senator was invited by the secret police at the behest of its DG.
Reacting to the reports, DSS said it indeed invited Yari but not because of purported refusal to pick Tinubu’s call.
The Spokesman of DSS, Dr Peter Afunanya, in a statement issued on Sunday, said Yari knew why he was invited by the service.
He also denied accusations that the Service was clandestinely monitoring the Judges on the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
He also said reports that Service stormed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and Code of Conduct Bureau and carted away certain files from them were untrue.
He added that it had become imperative for the agency to respond to the inaccuracies because of the “fickle-minded and vulnerable persons as well as the unsuspecting public” that may take the lies for facts.
Afunanya in the statement, said, “The attention of the Department of State Services has been drawn to false reports by sections of the online media particularly SaharaReporters, Peoples Gazette, and Jackson Ude.
“The so-called news platforms variously and wrongly fed the public with misleading narratives and accusations against the Service.
“For instance, SaharaReporters wrote that the Service stormed the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and carted away certain files from them.
“Jackson Ude falsely claimed that there is a rumble in the DSS due to nepotism. He further accused the Service was snooping on Judges on the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
“On its part, Peoples Gazette reported that Senator Abdulaziz Yari was arrested for alleged refusal to pick up the President’s phone call (whatever that meant).
“There are other variants of unsubstantiated and anonymous petitions flying around against the DGSS, his family, and some officials.
“To set the record straight, the DSS did not execute operations at the ICPC and CCB or remove files from their offices.
“Instructively, the two agencies have, on their own, refuted the news in widely circulated press statements. It is petty, if not laughable, to report that Yari was invited for refusing to pick up the President’s call. This is the height of junk journalism. Yari knows why he was invited.
“In fact, the Service denies all the allegations as they lack any factual basis or credibility. They are only figments of the creators’ imaginations.
“This is more so that the publishers in question have been noted in and outside the country for their notoriety for peddling fake news, sensational and gutter journalism. Without a modicum of proper and civilised behaviour, they indulge in character assassinations and sundry blackmail as a business,” the statement added