<\/p>\n
The All Progressives Congress has dismissed as hogwash the position of the
\nDirectorate of State Security after its raid on the party\u2019s offices in
\nLagos, describing the DSS \u201cfindings\u201d, presented to the media by the agency
\non Wednesday, as \u201ca great disservice to Nigeria and an embarrassment to
\nall intelligence-gathering organisations around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement in Abuja on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary,
\nAlhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also alleged that the timing of the release
\nof the findings was a plot orchestrated in collusion with the ruling
\nPeoples Democratic Party to distract the APC from its ongoing campaigns
\nfor next month\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n
It described as \u201cdisingenuous, flimsy, premeditated, partisan and an
\nirritant\u201d the DSS premise that the APC had an \u201darticulated plan to inflate
\nthe party\u2019s membership data as well as hack into INEC\u2019s voter registration
\ndatabase through the creation of party membership forms and cards to match
\nINEC\u2019s voters register across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The APC said, \u201dFirst, the DSS and the PDP said the APC was cloning
\nPermanent Voter Cards at the raided office, without a shred of evidence.
\nNow, after a \u2018painstaking\u2019 investigation, the DSS has found out that the
\nAPC was only planning to inflate its membership data and then hack into
\nINEC\u2019s database. And this is the outcome of its massive, months-long
\ninvestigations?<\/p>\n
\u201dThis would have been funny if it were not from a primary domestic
\nintelligence agency saddled with a great responsibility. Can this
\nwish-washy report stand any serious scrutiny? Can any serious intelligence
\ngathering agency anywhere else in the world take this report seriously?<\/p>\n
\u201cWith these kind of findings, one can now understand why Boko Haram has
\ncontinued to strike at times and places of its own choosing without any
\nprior knowledge by our all-powerful DSS.<\/p>\n
\u201dEven the presentation of the report by a poorly-trained and
\nhighly-politicised spokesperson of the DSS worsened the so-called
\nfindings. Why would the spokesperson for a national agency sound like a
\nmegaphone for the ruling party, freely castigating the opposition
\nspokesman and \u201da number of uninformed members of the public\u201d? Why does she
\nhave to go personal in presenting a report that supposedly is in the
\nnational interest?<\/p>\n
\u201dWe have always warned that our democracy is in clear and present danger,
\nnot just from desperate politicians, but also from institutions of state
\nthat have compromised in their roles and resorted to crass lawlessness.
\nThe DSS\u2019 findings today have given us another reason to repeat this
\nwarning.<\/p>\n
\u201dWhile we are willing to meet the DSS in court, we can confidently say
\nthat the \u2018confessions\u2019 extracted from the arrested persons, after they
\nwere subjected to incredible acts of torture, cannot even stand in any
\ncourt of law.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The All Progressives Congress has dismissed as hogwash the position of the Directorate of State Security after its raid on the party\u2019s offices in Lagos, describing the DSS \u201cfindings\u201d,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n