The Chief Security Officer (CSO) to President Bola Tinubu, Adegboyega Fasasi, has refused to leave the Aso Rock Villa despite being redeployed by the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Tosin Ajayi, since October 20, top sources in the Presidency revealed to Bellnews.
Bellnews gathered on Tuesday that Fasasi has the backing of some state governors and other influential people to remain in the Villa, having allegedly received monies from them to ensure regular access to Tinubu.
Some other officials in the Villa, however, accused the CSO of a pattern of receiving bribes to screen those who could see Tinubu and those who would not.
Some officials at the Villa accused the CSO of having a pattern of receiving bribes to control access to President Tinubu, deciding who gets to see him and who doesn’t.
“There is a lot of pressure by governors and influential people from whom he has collected money to keep him, saying that he has to be there. We can confirm from Villa that the CSO refused to leave,” one of the sources said.
“He’s accused of shaking down people to visit Tinubu. The logic of those supporting his stay is weird. They claim that if he leaves, they will have to bribe the new person afresh to have access to Tinubu,” the source further revealed.
“Some powerful people are backing Fasasi and are negotiating to let him leave in December,” another source corroborated.
Bellnews on October 20 reported that the Director General of the DSS or State Security Service (SSS), Ajayi, had removed Fasasi from his position as the CSO to Tinubu.
Fasasi was replaced by Rasheed Atanda Lawal, a deputy director of the SSS, who is currently enrolled in a fellowship course at the National Institute for Security Studies.
According to reports, President Tinubu approved Fasasi’s removal at the request of the DSS DG, who cited the need to send him for a “strategic course” — a common pretext for replacing top security officials close to the president.
It was learnt that Lawal was due for promotion to the rank of Director in July 2023, but the former management stalled his advancement, reportedly because he was not favoured by the previous DG.
In March 2019, then President Muhammadu Buhari approved the redeployment of his Chief Security Officer, Bashir Abubakar, and appointed Idris Ahmed as his replacement.
Then Director General of the SSS, Yusuf Bichi, reportedly persuaded the president that Mr. Bashir needed to attend a “strategic course” at a university in Buenos Aires, Argentina, leading to his replacement.
Meanwhile, in September. the DSS redeployed its spokesperson, Dr Peter Afunanya, and has not named his replacement.
While addressing a press conference at the headquarters of the service in Abuja, Afunanya explained that the new media policy of the service is to be less visible in the media and public spaces.
The recent decision signals a regression to the service’s former practice of secrecy, characterized by a lack of transparency, accountability, and openness in its interactions with the public and media.