DSS Operatives Kick Out Ex- DG, Are, From Ikoyi Home

OPERATIVES of the Depart­ment of State Services (DSS), yesterday, stormed the 50, Al­exander Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos, home of its former director-general, Kayode Are, and evicted him from the property.

Reports monitored on The­Cable indicated that the opera­tives stormed the residence in two buses at 3:00p.m. yester­day, broke the doors and al­legedly threw him out of the property.

A member of the household said the operatives did not produce any legal document to back up their action.

Are, a retired colonel, who was DSS DG from 1999 to 2007, under President Oluse­gun Obasanjo, had been asked to quit the house by the new head, Lawal Daura, but was given till December 31 to do so.

However, TheCable un­derstands that Are got a court order to restrain the DSS from forcefully ejecting him. This, it was believed, might have led to the DSS action.

Said the source: “Are was the longest serving DG of the SSS. He served between 1999 and 2007.

There is a rule in the ser­vice that all retired DGs are given a residence to live in for their lifetime and security etc. All the former DGs, and even the DG who took over from Are, are enjoying this benefit. Some of them have bought the houses they live in. Are got his allocation in 2010 and has lived in the house since then.

“When the new DG took over, he suddenly ordered that Are should move out of the house. He went to court and obtained an order that status quo be maintained…”

It was gathered that, after several unsuccessful attempts to resolve the matter, the order was eventually served on the DSS on Tuesday, December 1. The next morning, DSS offi­cers invaded the property and forcibly removed him and his family from the house.

Reacting to the develop­ment, former Aviation Min­ister, Femi Fani-Kayode has condemned the DSS invasion of Are’s home. Fani-Kayode said a situation where armed men go to people’s homes and shoot at them was unaccept­able.

“I have spoken to Are, and I am deeply concerned. He told me that his house is under siege and that gunshots were being fired at him and his fam­ily as we were speaking.

“Those of us who oppose this government can never be intimidated or silenced be­cause God is with us. If we could stand up against military dictatorship in the past, we can stand up against civilian dicta­torship today. “This attempt to silence us with guns, bul­lets, threats of arrest and pros­ecution, violence, storming of homes, locking up of relatives, kidnapping of citizens, shame­ful lies, baseless allegations, demonisation in the media and disinformation will not work. “They do not have enough prisons to silence the voice of the Nigerian people or to break their spirit and no-one is intimidated by the govern­ment’s evil tactics and wicked ways.”