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By: Shehu Bashir Esq.
Nigeria leadership has always been plagued by one quality omission or another. Rarely do you see a leader, either a politician or technocrat with a complete package of impeccable credentials. Often times, when you see one with raw intelligence, he may not be corrupt free. The one who is obviously not so corrupt may be grossly incompetent. When you are lucky to have one who is intelligent and non-corrupt at the same time, he might just be such an irritating nepotistic leader who turns the agency he/she is heading to job market for the boys from his tribe or religion.
Therefore, where you are lucky to have an individual with the combination of all the attributes of a responsible leader, you will wonder how they manage to swim through the mucky waters of compromise in spite of the temptation and luring around. Those individuals are rare assets of any society who should be jealously guided and protected at all cost. Yes, at all cost. The protection is necessary not just because such people are good but also because they are national treasures that should not left vulnerable to attack of any kind from any quarter.
In this dispensation, Nigeria is lucky to have one of such rare breed of intellectual sagacity in the person of Mr. Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi. MON, the recently appointed Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the State Security Service, SSS. Mr. Ajayi is the best definition of security intelligence officer, a sound detective properly so called.
He is the best example to justify why that Service was conceived and established in the first place. If there was any projection as to what kind of officers the Service was to have that would help in intelligence gathering and operational execution to help protect the internal security of the Nigeria State, the founders must have theorized on the quality of service of the likes of Tosin Ajayi. He is a wonder that is about to redesign the security architecture of this country for the best fortification of our internal security.
State Security Service which is commonly referred to as DSS is by the ethics of its establishment a covert agency. It is not naturally meant for the public hurray and it has no business becoming a mouthpiece for security management organs. No part of the pre-operation of the Service or post execution is supposed to be a subject of media chit-chat. But because enforcement of its ethics has become too conscious of political game playing, the 3S has hitherto needlessly become what it is now erroneously tagged as “political tool”.
In the past, SSS is the chief intelligence gathering agency for all the other security agencies. It controlled (and still controls) the network of intelligence gathering and this is often done with no specific attention on the agency. There is no doubt that the “publicization” of its operations has been having negative effect in occasional failure in the fight against terrorism and other domestic and international violent crimes. Hence, the need to start all over.
Things are about to change henceforth. The coming of Ajayi as the DG of SSS is the most significant game changer in the fight against terrorsim. If there is any grace of relief the security system will be breathing now is the coming of Tosin Ajayi into the fold. He is a game changer. He is not like any other CEO that agency has had in the last fifteen years. Ajayi is a different operation man. He is the tactician without trolling, the communication intelligence machine without verbal noise. The shooter without a shout.
Without any iota of disrespect to anyone, if there is any appointment that has been made in security setting in the last 15 years, it is the appointment of Oluwatosin Ajayi. The adage of square peg in a square hole is a fitting adaption of what Tosin Ajayi represents.
There is no doubt that Nigeria has been facing a lot of security challenges, especially regarding terrorism. We have failed at different attempts to eradicate the scourge. It is the flame which continues to burn into bigger and bigger inferno. It is scientific to assert that intelligence compromise has been largely responsible for so many operational failures in tackling homeland terrorism.
There can rarely be achievement of success of the fight against terrorism where the intelligence sharing or usage is compromised. The compromise which often stems from leadership incompetency or compromise in human resource placement or even intelligence sharing. Tosin Ajayi is an opague sieve. You can attempt to strain him as many times as you can but you can’t squeeze liquid out of his pap. He is the solid stone that is often called milestone and a fantastic team player with incredible humility and generosity.
It needs to be said very emphatically that the entire security apparatus of this nation needs to now come together and draw out a new order in the fight against crime, especially, terrorism, banditry and kidnapping. Without any iota of exaggeration, there is something to relish on in the new helmsman of the SSS. He is a man who wants to make a mark not to impress the others but to foster peace and order.
The DG is blessed with an extraordinary operational intelligence and administrative skill. This is a special asset to the entire security network. The DG doesn’t associate based on any sentiments neither does he care which religion you practice or the tribe you are from. His only friend is that fellow who wants to achieve greater feat of success along with him in the assignment that is given to his agency. He has demonstrated this in everywhere he had worked and there is a reason why he enjoys the accolades and respect of everyone who knows him directly or remotely till tomorrow.
When his announcement was made as the Director-General the State Security Service, the spontaneous jubilation by his staff in Kogi Command where he was the State Director of Security, was not to mock or gloat his predecessor, no, but to thank God for a man who does not have a religion nor tribe when it comes to his dealings with his staff and who has been very fair and professional in his dealings. The DG only has a friend in competency, loyalty, commitment, honesty, productivity, and patriotism of the staff in the discharge of their duty.
I must emphasize that DG Ajayi’s appointment is a game changer for the security network. His capacity to carry everybody along in such a professional manner with humility is a top notch. It is a fact that the disease of envy, lack of cooperation, self conceit, condescending and covert corruption have been responsible for the poor management of security in this Nigeria. There is no way the security agencies will collaborate with each other that they will not be able to solve the security problems in this country.
I must hint that the new DG of SSS is in equivalent of a four star General. Before his appointment, he was an Assistant Director General, ADG, which is equal to Lieutenant General.
Mr. Ajayi’s resourcefulness is an unlimited asset to assist and collaborate with his colleagues in other security agencies like NA, NAF, NN. NOF, EFCC, ICPC, etc, in managing the security situation in the country.
You cannot give assurance of the future of a man without atleast making an empirical reference to his past. DG Ajayi has an impeccable background of success story. In all his career as a staffer of the Service, he has always been assigned to take up the most dangerous, difficult and risky operations which has saved this nation from the brink of disintegration. He was always called to service when all hope is lost and he never failed to deliver.
Mr. Ajayi is coming into the office with a resumè loaded with vast experience, and exposure. He is no doubt a thorough bred with impeccable knowledge of the job. When I read the remarks about the DG by friends and foes alike, it is safe to conclude that Ajayi truly belongs to everybody and belongs to nobody.
No one is in doubt that this appointment is about the best this time. Many described him as operationally savvy, intellectually sound and administratively intelligent. Infact, someone described him as as a “welfarist” who is very passionate about putting smile on other people’s face, yet, very firm with the ethics of the job.
Taking into consideration these virtues, it is safe to say that the Service under his leadership will improve greatly and will help the nation in tackling the current spate of insecurity by providing the best intelligence for operational success.
This piece is not to hype the gentleman as “heaven on earth” but to celebrate Nigeria and congratulate Nigerians for having him at this time to signicantly help in the fight against insecurity. Unless where there is any such conspiracy against him, Mr. Ajayi’s coming is going to change the landscape of intelligence gathering and usage which will help in the fight against crime, especially terrorism. It is my personal hope and expectation that there will not be any such systemic bottleneck or political interference that may hinder his operations. Otherwise, Nigeria is in for a great deal.
Like many others, I have no ground to doubt the ability of the new DG to reform the Service to optimal performance. However, I do believe that the greatest asset of any agency is the Human Resources. If the quality of the resources is compromised, it is a direct compromise of the fortune and future of such organization. It needs no emphasis to say that there would be the need to do staff audit in order to determine redundancy and correct compromised recruitments. This is without any iota of bias.
As a responsible Nigerian, I do not care about the ethnicity, tribe or religion of anybody before I do what is right. I just care about equity, justice and fairness to everyone. I believe we should do things that will help this country regardless of the identity of whoever is in power in terms of religion and tribe. I am a man with a balance of objectivity. And on this, I just want the Service to be better of because of it’s strategic importance to fighting crimes.
Truth to all our description of the DG’s competency, the Service is already feeeling the fresh breath of a man who knows the job effortlessly. He is a typical example of the “hit the ground running” saying.
Having said all these, I must add that the DG has a lot of work to do and he must not be intimidated from doing what is truly right. The revelation from Jafar Jafar is disturbing and can scare anyone who understands the implications of compromised recruitments ethics in a sensitive security setting like the SSS. It is an aberration for an unqualified candidate to be considered for a sensitive job as this. It is also an aberration for a junior staff to be placed as head of a Unit or Department while his senior is made to be a surbordunate in the same unit. It was a war I had to fight in my days in EFCC. Nothing demoralizes the workforce than under-deployment nd under-employment.
I must also add that staff upgrade/promotion will remain tainted for as long as such promotion is done with arbitrary fiat. There are special grounds as allowed in most Staff Registrations of many agencies and even in PSR, but that is often abused without recourse to merit. It is an aberration for a level 14 to be promoted to level 17 just like that without going through any screening process. This will not only demoralize the workforce, it will set bad precedence for any autocratic regime to repeat the abuse. I have spoken against this in many fora with utter condemnation. This is one of the areas the DG must be ready to hit and correct.
The DG will also need to up his game in open source intelligence mechanism through collaboration with other stakeholders in identity management. The social media is littered with pseudo, parody and fake accounts which are commonly used to commit all manners of crimes including inciting public disturbances. It is high time all social media handles are tied to each owner’s NIN. A handle which doesn’t intend to commit crime on the space should not be hiding the identity of its operator.
As a measure of strict control in the area of communication breach and scamming, I once suggested to the NSA that an individual should not be allowed to have more than two GSM lines across board. There should be limit to the number of SIM card a single person can register to his or her name. The system is currently too porous, making it easy for terrorists and scammers alike to use one SIM in committing crime, then throwing it away to procure another one. The SSS, NIMC, NPF, NCC and other relevant stakeholders will need to consider this suggestion and make it serious national security strategy. Putting a cap on number of phone number ownership will help in tracking down kidnappers, scammers and even terrorists.
Additionally, one unfortunate turn of events is the turning of recruitments into security agencies as job opportunities. Enlistment into security agencies is not and should not be a job creation priority, it should be a calling and call to service. You cannot be in agencies like EFCC, ICPC, NIA, NPF, SSS just to make up the numbers for mere employment purpose. It must be that you have the prerequisite intellectual capacity to reinforce the code and ethics of the job. This principle has been bastardized in the last ten years where recruitment into the Service has been done with almost zero vetting of the applicants.
I was an applicant into the SSS some 22 years ago. I know what I went through in series of serious tough screening and vetting exercise. It covered intelligence capacity, academic qualifications, and even association with your friends. The vetting officers then went as far as my primary school and interviewed the friends I had then. It was that thorough. In those exercises, the numbers were strictly by quota, one person per local government area in each of the recruitment exercise which comes may be once a year.
I had a shot for consideration in four consecutive years, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. Notwithstanding that my godfather was the Director General then, he didn’t compromise the quota system in the 2004 exercise that would have taken me in when the then Chief of Staff to the President, General Abdullahi Mohammed Adamgba had another candidate, Tajudeen Alaya (my good friend) who is from the same Local Government Area as me – Ilorin South.
It then bothers one’s mind to see how this “conservative” agency with natural covert rules has been turned into “all weather” agency, leading to compromises in it’s many operations.
I have said all these to lay the background for my utmost interest in the management of security affairs in this country. Security matter is my core area of interest and I am very passionate about it.
I have always believed that our greatest problem as a nation is not necessarily the unavailability of competent hands to do the right things but the mentality of those with such political opportunity to corrupt the system. We cannot continue to take turn into destruction of the system. There must be a time when someone will do things differently to set us onto the path of greatness. The SSS is a strategic partner in effective security management, Nigerians are looking forward to a clean slate in the history of our collective safety. I am very confident the new DG Ajayi will deliver in his assignment.