A rights group, Rising-Up for a United Nigeria (RUN), has commended the Director General (DG) of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi, CFR for commitment to fighting criminality leading to the repositioning of the Service as a globally recognised Security Intelligence Agency.

RUN, in a press release signed by its Convener, Amb. Solomon Adodo and National Secretary, Mallam Suleiman Musa and made available to journalists in Abuja over the weekend, praised the DG for dedicating the better part of his life and career in fighting crime and ensuring that Nigeria is secured from Internal security threats. This comes against the backdrop of some sinister smear campaigns launched against the DGDSS by unpatriotic elements.

Excerpts, “we stand shoulder to shoulder with Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi whose tenure as the DG of DSS has witnessed a tremendous improvement in internal security, intelligence gathering and significant inter-Agency cooperation. The synergy built with other sister security agencies in the country has led to thwarting various security threats, kidnappings, terrorist attacks and other crimes. Most of the security threats of the past have been averted. More than anything else, the Service is reinvigorated with an infusion of patriotic zeal under the watch of Mr. Bichi.”

RUN also sent a stern warning to those whose criminal enterprises have been disrupted by the deep security networks and sting operations of the DSS and are now out trying to tarnish the impeccable personality of the DGDSS, to find another preoccupation as Nigerians know their real heroes.

“Our due diligence has revealed that some highly placed persons who once exploited and benefitted from the security lapses the country experienced prior to the appointment of the current DG of DSS are angry as their criminal livelihoods and enterprises have been dismantled.

“We , therefore, want to warn strongly, those who are launching spurious smear campaigns against the DSS boss with the hope of undermining his meritorious service to the country and portraying him as a corrupt person that their schemes are dead on arrival. Facts do not lie and it is impish cowardice for anybody to seek to undermine the efforts of a dedicated patriot like Bichi”, the statement added.

The group recounted Bichi’s staunch aversion to corruption as he stood firm in ensuring that the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele did not get away with his financial recklessness and excesses at the apex bank.

“To try implicating the DG of DSS in any allegations of corruptions is bizarre. Nigerians have not forgotten how the DSS under Mr. Bichi roundly rejected Godwin Emefiele’s bribes when he was going around seeking cover from security agencies when Nigerians got fed up with his demonic policies including the unpopular naira re-design and cashless policy.

“If not for the unwavering commitment of the DSS under the watchful eyes of Bichi, Emefiele and his cabal in the previous administration would have left the Nigerian economy thoroughly bankrupt and grounded. The startling revelations made with the final arrest of Emefiele by the DSS should ordinarily make Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi a national hero but alas, some fiendish anti-patriotic elements are hell bent on smearing his pristine stellar reputation with thier divisive tar brush. We know very clearly that terrorism financiers are very angry with Mr. Bichi for clipping their wicked wings and they have vowed to fight not just the DGDSS but the entire Tinubu administration. Our duty is to resist and expose these individuals for the full wrath of the law to be visited on them”, the statement added.

The rights group scolded those calling Bichi a corrupt person as paid media thugs and asked them to “desist from their evil acts as it is obvious that they are ignorant of the antecedents of the security icon whose selfless records are without as little as a dent and open to public scrutiny without having to resort to blackmail”.