The Peoples Democratic Party has alleged that the Department of State Services is weak in intelligence gathering.
It said this was what led to the two simultaneous bombings recorded at two satellite towns within the Federal Capital Territory on Friday.
The bombings led to the death of 20 persons while 41 others were seriously injured.
The Acting National Chairman of the opposition party, Prince Uche Secondus, in a statement in Abuja on Monday, said the agency should not be seen to be political in its activities.
Secondus therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to overhaul the agency and other security outfits in the country.
He said his party noted with deep sadness and concern, the resurgence of terrorism and renewed attacks on the nation’s capital.
He said that the Abuja coordinated attacks came just as the nation was already celebrating the success of its security forces in their efforts to overrun the terrorists.
The renewed attacks, he noted, was an indication of either a fact of dereliction of duty or sabotage against the anti-terrorism fight.
Secondus added that his party had remained steadfast in its commitment to support every policy adopted by the government of President Buhari aimed at ending terrorism, especially knowing the importance of a secured environment in achieving peaceful co-existence and development.
He said, “We are aware that a bomb is an ill wind that blows no good to anybody in the community. It scares away potential investors.
“We are therefore duty-bound to draw attention to certain grave factors, possibly leading to the unfortunate resurgence, which, if unchecked, could worsen the ugly situation.
“Our checks revealed that poor intelligence gathering by the Department of State Services and other relevant intelligence group is largely, if not directly, responsible for the resurgence of terrorists, who had earlier been pushed to the precipices in the Sambisa Forest in Borno State, to the extent that they have slipped back into other cities, including the nation’s capital.
“From all indications, the DSS under the watch of the current Director-General, Alhaji Lawal Daura, does not seem to be in full grip of the intelligence situation.”
Secondus added that the alleged dereliction of duty was occasioned by the alleged use of the agency for political assignments since the emergence of the new Director-General of the DSS.
Apart from this, he said he also noticed an alleged apparent administrative disharmony within the service, which he said, had led to the erosion of professionalism, harmony and loyalty among the agency’s personnel.
Secondus said, “In the last few months, the DSS, instead of concentrating on its primary statutory duties of providing domestic intelligence, security service and criminal investigations for the state, has, under the new Director-General, directed all its energies on political matters; chasing after opposition elements, interfering in election tribunal activities, intimidating and hounding tribunal witnesses while terrorists resurge and combatant security forces left with scanty intelligence.
“The situation with the DSS has become so pathetic that it could not even effectively analyse reported suspicious tweets ‘predicting the attacks’ as a clue to forestall last Friday’s attack in Abuja and other parts of the country.”
