Ahead of the relocation of President
Muhammadu Buhari to the Presidential
Villa, arrangements have been concluded for
the Nigerian military to take over the
activities of the Strike Force, The PUNCH has
learnt.
The Strike Force, which is a special security
outfit saddled with the responsibility of
protecting the President and the seat of
power, is currently comprising only officials
of the Department of State Services.
A top Presidency official, who pleaded
anonymity, told our correspondent on
Tuesday that soldiers might take over their
responsibility very soon.
The source said a Lieutenant who will be
leading 21 other military personnel had
already been transferred to the Strike Force
with an instruction to take over from the DSS
officials.
He said, “DSS officials are the ones that have
been serving in the Strike Force. “With this
development military personnel will take
over from them henceforth.
“We are aware that the situation is causing a
palpable tension as there is a possibility of a
showdown. But we are working hard to ensure
that the situation did not degenerate.”
Operatives attached to the Strike Force are
always trained abroad on counter-assault
and other techniques aimed at making their
jobs easier.
In explaining their duties, the source said its
operatives were the ones former President
Olusegun Obasanjo erroneously referred to as
snippers in his widely-publicised open letter
to former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Another official, who is aware of the
arrangement, also said that machinery had
also been put in place to change the new
Presidential Villa’s Administrative Officer,
who was deployed by the DSS about two weeks
ago and replaced with a military officer.
He said all DSS officials currently serving
inside the Presidential Villa were not sure of
their fate yet.
“The truth is that we are not sure of
anything yet. Whichever way, we will only act
based on signals from our headquarters
whether to leave or remain inside the Villa,”
he said.
Meanwhile, a major disagreement broke out
on Friday between DSS officials drafted
from the Presidential Villa, Abuja to the
National Mosque, Abuja and some officials
of a private security firm.
The PUNCH had reported last week that DSS
officials were having a running battle with
officials of the security outfit who were
reported to have been securing Buhari before
he was inaugurated as the President on May
29.
Their two earlier encounters in the same
mosque were settled amicably with officials
of the firm asked to leave the premises for
DSS officials.
Our correspondent, however, learnt that
trouble started again last Friday when DSS
officials also sighted the officials of the
private firm in the mosque.
A source claimed that trouble started when
one of the officials of the firm was asked to
identify himself.
“The DSS officials had asked the private
guard to identify himself. One thing led to
the other and the private guard was said to
have held the necktie of one of the
operatives. That led to a fisticuffs. It took
the timely intervention of senior officers for
the situation to be brought under control,”
the source said.
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