It has been alleged that the Director General of Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, enlisted the assistance of hackers to breach WhatsApp and gain access to the messages of President Bola Tinubu’s political opponents during and after the 2023 presidential election.
These hackers were reportedly brought in from Cape Verde under the direction of the DSS boss.
During the 2023 presidential election, Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), emerged as the winner.
However, his victory is currently being contested at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party, along with their respective candidates, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi.
“The DG of DSS brought hackers from Cape Verde to help Tinubu break into WhatsApp messages of his opponents during the elections and afterwards,” one of the sources said.
In June, President Tinubu made a significant decision by authorizing the immediate retirement of various key officials, including the Service Chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police, Advisers, and the Comptroller-General of Customs.
These retirements took effect immediately, and President Tinubu also announced their respective replacements.
Additionally, Chairman AbdulRasheed Bawa of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was indefinitely suspended from his position by President Tinubu.
“But guess who was spared from being axed! Yusuf Bichi. That is the reason why Tinubu retained Bichi after firing all the heads of security agencies,” one of the sources said.
The Director of Information in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, in a statement, disclosed that the suspension would allow investigations into “weighty allegations” of abuse of office against the suspended chairman of the anti-corruption body.
“President Tinubu has approved the indefinite suspension from office of AbdulRasheed Bawa, CON, as the Chairman, Economic, and Financial Crimes Commission to allow for proper investigation into his conduct while in office. This follows weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him.
“Bawa has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Director, Operations in the Commission, who will oversee the affairs of the Office of the Chairman of the Commission pending the conclusion of the investigation,” the statement read.
Bawa was appointed by then President Muhammadu Buhari in February 2021 as the EFCC chairman following the removal of Ibrahim Magu, his predecessor, over allegations of corruption.
Bawa was subsequently invited for questioning by the DSS and has been in the custody of the secret police since then.
On June 28, SaharaReporters exclusively reported that Bawa had been moved from the headquarters of the secret police to a private facility.
Sources told SaharaReporters that Bawa was moved to another facility to have total control over him after he refused to write any statements in custody.
SaharaReporters also exclusively reported on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, that Bawa had refused to write statements at the secret police’s facility. It was learnt that Bawa told investigators that the DSS had no right to detain him without charges, hence his refusal to write any statements in custody.
“They’ve taken Bawa from DSS headquarters to one of their private facilities to have total control over him after he refused to write statements requested from him,” a top security source had said.
Following their suspension from their respective offices by President Tinubu’s administration due to corruption allegations and abuse of office, both AbdulRasheed Bawa, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, have been detained.
SaharaReporters previously reported that Emefiele implicated Bawa as an accomplice in the Naira redesign scandal that shook the country some months ago.
Bawa’s invitation and subsequent interrogation by the Department of State Services (DSS) occurred shortly after Emefiele’s arrest and transfer from Lagos to Abuja for alleged corruption and abuse of office.
On November 23, 2022, then-President Buhari and Emefiele unveiled new Nigerian currency notes with denominations of N200, N500, and N1,000.
Emefiele clarified that the old notes would no longer be considered legal tender after January 31, 2023. Emefiele emphasized that the move was not aimed at any specific individual, although there were speculations that it was influenced by the influential group within the Presidency to hinder the chances of Bola Tinubu, who was the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), from winning the election held on February 25, 2023.
This policy resulted in significant hardships for Nigerians due to the scarcity of new currency notes. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) struggled to meet the demand, leading to cash shortages and long queues at banks and ATMs.
Furthermore, Emefiele disregarded a Supreme Court ruling that extended the validity of the old notes until December 31. Former President Buhari distanced himself from the non-compliance with the court order.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Bola Tinubu emerged as the winner of the election, defeating 17 other candidates with a total of 8,794,726 votes. Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) secured second place with 6,984,520 votes, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party came third with 6,101,533 votes. Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party came fourth with 1,496,687 votes.