Former Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura, has said the late former President Muhammadu Buhari was surrounded by sycophants who betrayed his trust and took advantage of his administration.
Daura, who is also the vice-presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement, made the remarks during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today aired on Monday, Sept. 7.
He said those who described Buhari’s administration as the worst in Nigeria’s history should examine the country’s political record between 1995 and 2023 before reaching such a conclusion.
Daura said his position as intelligence chief required him to remain close to Buhari and claimed he stood by and protected the former president’s administration.
“Yes, they can say it, but I also want them, the real students of history, to go back from 1995 to 2023, when he exited, and find out which were the worst years. I wasn’t part of the government then,” he said.
“And that will show you that I stood by him and I protected that government. Everything started to give way after 2018 since I left office.”
Daura said there were sycophants around Buhari and claimed he knew some of them and the details of their actions. He, however, rejected suggestions that he belonged to a so-called cabal around the former president.
“No, there is no cabal,” he said.
“Even if there was a cabal, the intelligence chief of a country can never be part of a cabal because the schedule I handled made it necessary for me to be close to the president at all times.”
According to Daura, the people he described as sycophants did not necessarily misdirect Buhari but betrayed the trust the former president placed in them.
Reflecting on lessons from Buhari’s administration, he said personal relationships should not automatically determine appointments to public office, stressing that loyalty or association with an individual should be considered separately from competence and trustworthiness.
Daura said that even when a trusted associate was being considered for public office, the person’s competence should be assessed and the responsibility assigned should reflect their abilities and the level of trust placed in them.
“But in that situation, an unfortunate situation, I would say, it so happened that people were just, you know, trusted,” he said.
Daura maintained that Buhari’s administration ultimately suffered because some people were entrusted with responsibilities without sufficient consideration of their suitability for the positions.
