By Seyi Babalola
An employee of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has described how DSS agents broke into their Abuja office and demanded to speak with Kolawole Oluwadare, the deputy director.
The staff (name withheld) stated that the officers instructed that Kola should report to their office with the organization’s documents tomorrow, Tuesday, September 10.
However, according to the staff who spoke directly with Vanguard, the officers did not have a letter of invitation or any other formal method of explaining their objective.
The staff identified the individual interrogating her as a DSS officer using the identity card the officer was attempting to conceal.
According to the ID card, the DSS officer (a female) works for the FTC (Federal Capital Territory) Command.
The SERAP staff shared: “Some armed DSS officers were outside, while two, a male and a female, came inside the office.
“They invaded our premises at 11:09 a.m. and were here until 11:21 a.m.
“The female DSS officer kept asking for Deputy Director, Kola. I told her he was not in the country and asked if she had an appointment with him.
“She said no, that they just came for a friendly chat, and then asked for any other management staff they could talk to.
“I said none was available. Then they asked how many offices we have across the country. I said two, and that the other was in Lagos.
“When the DSS woman asked me for the Lagos address, I directed her to SERAP’s site. The two officers left the office to join their colleagues outside.
“A few minutes later, they came back in and asked me to tell the Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, to report to their office tomorrow, September 10.
“That was when the DSS officer revealed her identity by dropping her name (withheld) and phone number.
“However, I told her that there was no way I can get across to the Deputy Director today, and he will be able to get into the country and honour the invitation.
“I also told them that there should be a formal invitation letter for such processes. The DSS officer then told me to get in touch with the SERAP bosses and get back to her before the day is over.”
