APC warns against arrest of chairman in Borno

 Urges DSS to shun partisanship

 The All Progressives Congress (APC) has  warned against alleged plan by the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest its Chairman in Borno State, Ali Dalori, on trumped-up charges, saying it is capable of precipitating a crisis in an already volatile environment.In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the situation in Borno was already very dire and no one should add fuel to a raging fire because of politics.

It also urged the DSS to resist growing temptation to dabble into politics, even while it was allegedly becoming very glaring that the agency was being compromised under the present political dispensation.

The statement read in part: “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 not to spark a needless crisis in Borno.

“We have it on good authority that with the recent movement of Ali Modu Sheriff to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), attempts are being made to destabilise the APC in Borno State, using agencies of state like the DSS. The takeoff 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 unearthed supposed offences committed by Ali 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’ money. An agency that is supposed to protect the people of Nigeria could not be the same agency being used to witch-hunt the opposition.

“Unless the DSS turns a new leaf and stops making itself a tool in the hands of politicians, the agency will ridicule itself and weaken its capacity to function effectively.”

“The APC urged the DSS and other security agencies to concentrate their efforts on arresting 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.”