According to Abdulwahab Abdulrahman, a former aide to the sacked director general of State Security Service, Lawal Daura, his former boss is a serial bribe receiver and at the same time, a man who betrayed President Muhammadu Buhari, many times for monetary gains.

According to Abdulrahman, a retired senior SSS official, he left the agency because of the scale of corruption and abuse there. He said:

“I didn’t want my children to see news of my eventual arrest on TV,” he said

Mr Abdulrahman, whom some described as Mr Daura’s former “right-hand man”, also spoke on what he said was Mr Daura’s darker side Nigerians never knew.

Mr Abdulrahman who served as special assistant to Mr Daura until 2016 said besides corruption, Mr Daura repeatedly betrayed President Buhari. Messrs Abdulrahman and Daura were members of the Buhari campaign’s security committee in the buildup to 2015 election. The committee was led by the current Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau. Mr Abdulrahman said he served as the secretary of the 25-member committee:

“I noticed immediately we started work that for Lawal Daura it is simply about the money,” he said. “In one of earlier meetings he suggested that we should request for one billion to start work. Where will Buhari see one billion to give us?”

Mr Abdulrahman further said in the course of their work and as part of the transition team after Mr Buhari won the election, Mr Daura “kept producing fake reports about (Ita) Ekpenyong (his predecessor), but we never knew what he was targeting,” until late.

He said Mr Daura soon developed the habit of going to Mr Buhari’s influential cousin, Mamman Daura, to report Mr Ekpenyong and give details of what the election committee was doing.
That way, he said Lawal Daura warmed his way into Mamman Daura’s heart. He also said despite coming from the same neighbourhood in Katsina state, Mr Buhari never knew Lawal Daura until 2015.

“He was introduced to the president by the late Senator Mustapha Bukar,” he said.

He also said Mr Daura was never a favourite of President Buhari because of his “antecedents”, suggesting he was somehow imposed on him by Mamman Daura and others close to him.

“When he was appointed he kept putting pressure on me and Maikano, the current AO (admin officer) at the presidential villa to come and work with him as SA. He assured me that what I will get under him, I cannot get even as a Minister,” Mr Abdulrahman said.

“He said he wants the two of us to stabilise the service for him,” he quoted Mr Daura as saying. Mr Abdulrahman said he eventually agreed the offer after much pressure.

He claimed as the work commenced,

“Daura was receiving money from everyone including the president’s enemies”.

Mr Abdulrahman said when they resumed, they always closed late at work, often at about 2am. “What are we doing was mostly: receiving Ghana must go filled with cash brought by enemies of government to him,” he said somewhat confirming he was part of whatever happened at the time.

“The rate of corruption on that fourth floor was too much and the president doesn’t deserve this,” he said. “He will go and get information on plans for (Senate president) Bukola (Saraki) and then leak it to him,” he said.