Some social cultural organisations and certain individuals in Nigeria have been accused by the Department of State Services (DSS) has of plotting to create chaos across the country.
The accusation is coming barely a day after the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) said it had withdrawn the registration certificate of Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and other socio-cultural groups in Nigeria.
Mr Peter Afunanya, the Public Relations Officer of DSS, in a statement, said that the Service:
Uncovered plans by some persons and groups desirous of taking advantage of latest developments in parts of the country to destabilize it.
Some prominent personalities and socio-cultural groups have resorted to divisive acts through inciting statements aimed at pitting individuals, groups and ethnic nationalities against another. The Service is, without doubt, aware of these plans and their sponsors.
The DSS spokesperson warned that it “will no longer tolerate the orchestrations by subversive and unscrupulous elements to cause a breakdown of law and order in the country.”
According, the DSS is working with relevant authorities and sister security and law enforcement agencies to ensure that the objective of the groups is not achieved.
He reiterated the DSS’ commitment to the internal security of Nigeria and will, within the confines of the law, decisively deal with planners of the mayhem.
Afunanya urged law abiding citizens to go about their normal businesses and disregard the antics of agents of destabilization.
He however, advised members of the public to avail the Service and related agencies with useful information about the activities of criminals and groups intent on instigating violence in the country.
Meanwhile, the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Mr Garba Abubakar, confirmed the deregistration of the bodies, saying:
We have an established protocol that all organizations; ethnic, religious with political implication should be referred for security clearance before such organizations are registered. In 2017, a similar organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide applied to be registered and security agencies rejected it.“It would have been a double standard to allow another organization to be registered. Up till now, Arewa Consultative Forum is not registered because they were not given security clearance, we have South-South Youth Forum, NorthEast Youth Forum and so many organizations that have not been allowed to register.
