Daura: End Of Spymaster And Other Newspaper Headlines Today

The early morning invasion of the National Assembly by masked security operatives, yesterday, which prevented lawmakers and members of staff including the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Mohammed Sani Omolori from accessing their offices, has cost Lawal Musa Daura, Director- General of the Department of State Services (DSS), his job.  According to the DAILY SUN although the masked security operatives claimed they acted based on ‘order from above’, Daura’s  sacking was announced via a two-paragraph statement by Senior Special Assistant to the Acting President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande.

VANGUARD, THE PUNCH. NIGERIAN TRIBUNE, THE NATION, NEW TELEGRAPH,  also reports  that NASS: ‘DSS Boss Fired For Action Beyond His Powers’. The face-off between the executive and legislative arms of the Federal Government which prompted an early morning blockade of the National Assembly by the Department of State Services, DSS, yesterday culminated in the sack of its Director-General, Lawal Daura. The sack, is set to  reset the shape and structure of Muhammadu Buhari’s Presidency, senior Presidency officials revealed yesterday. Daura was sacked on the orders of Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, who described his action in cordoning off the National Assembly with DSS operatives as unauthorised, unconstitutional and unacceptable to the rule of law. Events leading to Daura’s sack were preceded by the early morning drama that saw scores of legislators on vacation and hundreds of legislative staff locked out of the assembly complex by masked DSS operatives.

Finally on BUSINESS DAY revealed Offshore bondholders panic, stocks fall as Nigeria political risk escalates. Yesterday’s raid of the National Assembly by the State Security Service (SSS) has raised the country’s political risk profile further, leading to major selloffs in Nigeria’s stock and bond markets. The bond market witnessed a spur of activity during yesterday’s session, as a flurry of headline political news dominated trading sentiments over the course of the session. “We witnessed continued selloff by offshore clients mostly on the 2027s and 2028s as tensions in the political space further strengthened their recent bearish position on the market,” Zedcrest capital analysts led by Oluwatosin Ayanfalu said in a late note to clients. Nigeria’s secret police boss was fired hours after armed security agents temporarily blocked the entrance to the National Assembly in a sign of heightening political tensions before elections in February. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who’s acting head of state while President Muhammadu Buhari is on vacation in the U.K., ordered the dismissal of State Security Service Director General Lawal Musa Daura “with immediate effect,” according to a statement, which gave no explanation. His ouster capped a day of drama in the capital, Abuja, which started with secret police officers wearing masks and their standard black uniforms turning away legislators, reporters and staff as they tried to enter the National Assembly complex.