A Socio-Cultural group, Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU) has alledged that the Department of State Security was plotting to silence the Bishop of Catholic of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah because of his criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari.
SOKAPU was reacting to the invitation of the Catholic Clergy for questioning by the DSS over his criticism of the President in his Christmas sermon and other comments in recent times.
The youth therefore 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, which was made available to journalists on Sunday pointed to the case of late former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Obadiah Mailafia.
The Youth arm of the group said, they have issues with the invitation of DSS to those who are perceived as ardent critics of President Muhammadu Buhari and they would advise the Bishop not to honour this one.
The statement said: “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.
