The Department of State Services, DSS, on Monday said the rumour that N21 billion and weapons were found in the house of the sacked Director General of the DSS, Lawal Daura, was completely untrue.
The DSS said that the rumour emanated from some fake videos which it said were circulated as being the outcome of a search allegedly carried out in Daura’s house.
A statement issued by the spokesperson for the agency, Tony Opuiyo, said there was no iota of truth in the allegation that N21bn and unspecified number of Permanent Voter Cards were found in Daura’s houses.
The videos, which Opuiyo had described as fake, gave an impression that the search was conducted at the residence of the former DG in both Abuja and Daura, Katsina State.
The spokesman for the agency said that there was no search carried out in the home of Daura by any security agency.
Opuiyo said, “The attention of the Department of State Services has been drawn to the circulation of fake information and videos in which several items were said to have been recovered from the Katsina and Abuja homes of its immediate past Director General, Lawal Daura.
“These non-existent items include: N21bn cash, 400 assorted and sophisticated small arms and light weapons/rifles, and thousands of Permanent Voter Cards belonging to Niger Republic immigrants.
“In another video also in circulation, some persons believed to be personnel of a security outfit were seen forcing open safes stocked with money. The security operatives were described as executing a recovery operation at the Katsina home of the former DG.
“Consequently, the Service wishes to inform the public that these videos are false and should be disregarded. So far, no such recovery operations have been undertaken by the EFCC or any other security agency at DSS’ office or residences of the former DG.
“There is no doubt that different interests have continued to give varied accounts of the incident of last week at the National Assembly. It may, however, be recalled that the Presidency had pledged to carry out a detailed investigation regarding the alleged National Assembly siege,” he said.
Punch reports that Opuiyo asked members of the public to exercise restraint in their narration of events and as such, to desist from spreading fake news or engaging in activities that he said might mislead or further cause a breach of the peace as well as preempt the outcome of investigations.
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If DSS is unable to narrow down to the source of the fake video for sanctions then it is unfortunate. In Nigeria you don’t know who to believe as govt agencies have many times thwarted the truth.