How late President Buhari appointed people out of trust, not competence and got betrayed – Ex-DSS DG

A former Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura, has said the late former President Muhammadu Buhari was surrounded by sycophants who betrayed the trust he placed in them and took advantage of his administration.

Daura, who is also the vice-presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), spoke during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, aired on Monday.

He said those criticising Buhari’s government as the worst in Nigeria’s history should examine the country’s political history between 1995 and 2023 before arriving at such a conclusion.

Daura said his role as intelligence chief required him to remain close to Buhari, adding that he stood by the former president and protected his administration.

“Yes, they can say it, but I also want them, the real students of history, to go back from 1995 to 2023, when he exited, and find out which were the worst years. I wasn’t part of the government then,” he said.

“And that will show you that I stood by him and I protected that government. Everything started to give way after 2018 since I left office.”

The former DSS DG said there were sycophants around Buhari, claiming that he knew some of them and was aware of their actions.

Daura added that he knows “the details of what they have done” and rejected the suggestion that he was part of a so-called cabal around the late former president.

“No, there is no cabal,” he said.

“Even if there was a cabal, the intelligence chief of a country can never be part of a cabal because the schedule I handled made it necessary for me to be close to the president at all times.”

According to Daura, the people he described as sycophants did not “necessarily” misdirect Buhari but instead betrayed the trust the former president placed in them.

Speaking on the lessons that could be drawn from Buhari’s administration, Daura said personal relationships should not automatically determine who gets appointed to public office.

He said loyalty to, or association with, an individual should be separated from whether a person is qualified and trustworthy enough to hold a particular public position.

He added that even where a trusted associate is considered for public office, the person’s competence should be assessed, and the appointment should reflect their abilities and the level of trust placed in them.

Daura said Buhari’s administration “ultimately” suffered because people were entrusted with responsibilities without sufficient consideration of their suitability for the positions.

“And even if you are to do that, you must also weigh the quality of that person and then maybe place him in an office that befits him or is proportionate to maybe the level of trust you have in that person,” he said.

“But in that situation, an unfortunate situation, I would say, it so happened that people were just, you know, trusted.”