The Action Congress of Nigeria has described as a national embarrassment the shameful bickering and power tussle between the the Nigeria Police and the State Security Services over investigations into the killing of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde the assassinated Principal Private Secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed,the party decried a situation in which one week after the Nigerian Police had paraded some suspects in relation to the murder, the State Security Service paraded yet another group of suspects for the same crime.
The party recalled that, earlier,the show of shame had kicked off with allegations in the media that the State Security Service was recycling suspects, as the suspects being paraded for the murder of Comrade Oyerinde had earlier been paraded in the same clothes for another murder. However rather than respond constructively and intelligently to this grave allegation the state spy outfit, went on the attack arguing that the suspects they paraded in the two unrelated murder cases were only coincidentally wearing identical dresses.
“Why are our security forces always in a hurry to parade suspects who under the law are presumed innocent? Why can’t the State Security Service focus on intelligence gathering and national security? What is the business of the State Security Service parading armed robbery suspects and pursuing mundane matters when terrorism is taking over the country? And finally what is the interest of the State Security Service in this particular case even as the riddle surrounding the murder of Comrade Oyerinde remains unresolved in spite of these awkward and embarrassing flurry of mudslinging between the two securities agencies.
According to the party the way out of this national embarrassment is for each of these security agencies to stick to its statutory roles if we are to forestall an impending intelligence disaster.
