Mr. Lawal Daura, former Director-General of the Department of Security Service (DSS), has alleged that the late former President Muhammadu Buhari was betrayed by people he trusted during his administration.
Daura, who served as DSS director-general under Buhari and is currently the vice-presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) said some individuals around the former president took advantage of the trust he placed in them.
He made the remarks during an interview with Channels Television on Monday.
Also, Daura disagreed with those who describe the Buhari administration as one of the worst in Nigeria’s history, urging critics to assess the administration against other periods between 1995 and 2023.
“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.
He added that he had remained committed to Buhari and his administration while in office as intelligence chief.
“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,” Mr Daura said.
The former secret police chief said he was aware of the details of what transpired under the administration, while rejecting suggestions that he was part of a powerful “cabal” allegedly operating around Buhari.
“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 him, the people he described as sycophants did not necessarily misdirect Buhari but betrayed the confidence the former president had placed in them.
He said one major lesson from the Buhari administration was the need to distinguish personal relationships and loyalty from competence when making appointments to public office.
Mr Daura argued that an individual’s association with or loyalty to a political leader should not automatically qualify such a person for a public position.
He said even where a trusted associate was considered for appointment, the person’s competence and suitability for the specific position should first be assessed.
He suggested that where a trusted associate was appointed, the individual should be assigned a position commensurate with his or her abilities and the level of confidence reposed in the person.
Mr Daura said the Buhari administration ultimately suffered from appointing people to positions without sufficient consideration of their suitability.
“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.”
