“DSS officer” who testified for Peter Mbah at the Enugu Guber Election Tribunal no longer in service…as Lawyer says secret service usurping routine police duties by investigating forgeries

 Isa Yahaya Mohammed, the man who claimed he was an official of the Department of State Services (DSS) while testifying at the Enugu State Governorship Elections Tribunal on Tuesday, is not a serving officer of the DSS, investigations have revealed.

This is even as a lawyer has said that the DSS would be abdicating its mandate and usurping police duties by conducting investigations such as certificate forgeries that have no bearing to Nigeria’s internal security.

Yahaya, who claimed while giving testimony at the tribunal, that he was a serving deputy director in charge of operations at the DSS, contradicted his written deposition where he wrote that he was a Deputy Director Strategy.

But contrary to his statement, Yahaya retired as an Assistant Director of the DSS some years ago, suggesting that the secret service never at any time gave him the mandate to be in Enugu to give evidence on behalf of any of the contenders at the tribunal.

Our source at the DSS revealed that contrary to the posturing of Yahaya at the tribunal, the DSS rarely responds to subpoenas, as their mandate does not include such investigations as would require it to be summoned to open court sessions.

The source, who does not want to be named, because of the nature of the mandate of the secret police, said that there was no way the DSS would be involved in such a project because, except otherwise stated, the duties of the service are secret and their findings mostly classified.

“It is not possible for the DSS to be subpoenaed on such matters. Even when we are called to investigate issues such as certificate forgery by public officials, it is done discreetly and the findings are classified and shared only with relevant authorities. It is unheard of to find the service rendering before the courts or any member of the public, facts, and materials from our investigations. It is not part of what we do here,” he stated.

According to the source, DSS has a serving Deputy Director, and he is a Christian from Plateau State, and his name is not Yahaya Mohammed.

“It will be unheard of for the DSS to drive itself in a position where it is seen to be contradicting a federal government agency. You must know that the service must be aware of the position of the NYSC [National Youth Service Corps] on the matter. NYSC has made it clear that the man you are talking about (Peter Mbah) did not obtain his discharge certificate from them. How can the DSS, a federal government agency, be contradicting another important federal government agency? It cannot happen. Our job here is to protect the integrity of the Nigerian Government and its institutions and not to run them down,” he continued.

Another source from the DSS, who confided in us, said there is no position like Deputy Director, Operations or Deputy Director, Strategy at the DSS headquarters, saying the man could never have come from their office.

“We do not have such positions as you mentioned in our office. I don’t know where that person came from, but it is certainly not from our office,” he said.

Meanwhile, a legal practitioner. Joseph Maduabuchi Iloh, has said the Department of State Services is not, by its mandate, supposed to involve itself in investigations such as forgeries.

Barr. Iloh, who responded to the controversy surrounding the appearance of the DSS officer at the Enugu Tribunal, said it was the duty of the Nigerian police and not the DSS to conduct investigations that have to do with forgeries and other crimes that are not threats to the internal security of the country.

Citing previous cases that have been handled by Nigerian courts, Iloh referred to a matter that had been handled by the Court of Appeal and which was published in the Nigerian Law Report, Iloh said it was wrong for the DSS to have been involved in the matter.

“In Tawakalitu v. FRN (2011) All FWLR (Pt. 561) 1413 at 1489 to 1490, par E-F, it is clear that the powers conferred on the police are wider than those of the State Security Service which are confined to detection of crimes against the internal security of Nigeria; preservation of all non-military classified matters concerning the internal responsibilities affecting internal security of the Nigerian State as the National Assembly or President may deem necessary to assign to the service. With the greatest respect, examination malpractices and/or certificate forgery is not one of those crimes relating to or contemplated by the National Security Act on the internal security of Nigeria so as to confer the State Security Service with the powers to arrest, detain, investigate and arraign the accused persons in that respect.”

Peter Mbah was on March 22, 2023, declared the winner of the keenly contested Enugu Governorship election, polling 160,895 votes to edge out his closest rival, Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party, who polled 157,552, according to figures announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

But before the result was announced, the media was awash with allegations that Mbah, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) allegedly forged his NYSC discharge certificate.

Although he spiritedly denied it, the Director general of the NYSC, Brig. Gen. Yushaú Dogara, in addition to a letter repudiating the discharge certificate submitted by Mbah to INEC, also went on national television to disclaim the purported certificate.

The discharge certificate became even more controversial when Edeoga and the Labour Party made it their major item of prayer in their petition at the tribunal, where they are seeking to have the governor disqualified for alleged forgery and perjury.