Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) were allegedly unruly as they carried out, Wednesday, “an order “to evict former Director General, Col. Kayode Are (rtd)” from his residence.
Wednesday’s eviction at No 50, Alexander road, Ikoyi, was believed to have been ordered by incumbent Director General of DSS, Mr. Lawal Daura.
Daura, had shortly after assuming office, wrote to Are, who headed the same agency under President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, to vacate the residence.
According to him, the allocation of the house to Are was questionable and as such, he was occupying a property that belongs to the agency.
But Are had obtained a court injunction restraining the DSS from evicting him from the residence.
That, however, did not stop the DSS, who stormed the house in three vehicles and forcibly broke in.
They equally harassed residents, when they insisted on seeing a legal document backing the invasion.
DAILY POST gathered that the family later called in three trucks to help them convey some personal effects.
Reacting, Are said “I have lived here for five years. Five of us are enjoying this benefit but I’m the only one being treated this way.”
City Voice quoted him as saying that after Daura directed him to vacate the property, he explained that the allocation to him was in order just like those of his predecessors and successors.
Are said the DSS DG insisted he must quit and gave him a December 31 deadline to leave.
“On Tuesday, an injunction from the Federal High Court, Lagos, was served on them (DSS),” the former DSS boss said.
“But as you can see, they are disobeying the court order”, he lamented.
Are said he was aware that Mr. Daura had long marked him for poor treatment because of the disciplinary measures he took against him (Daura) while he (Are) was his boss in service.
“All I’m saying is that nobody should be allowed to use public institutions to settle personal scores with people”, he stated.
Recounting the family’s ordeal to Thisday, a member of the family said: “It happened around 12.30 pm when they struck, dressed in black. Mummy (Mrs. Are) just came from the hospital because she wasn’t feeling well.
“We were discussing when they stormed the house. We saw them from the window and she asked them who they were but they refused to disclose their identity.
“Mummy went and locked the door and the next thing they did was to break our doors and windows. The two female DSS operatives fought her (Mrs. Are) they tried to seize her phones.
“In the process, the one with the red hair even bit her. According to them, they were acting on orders from above.
“They first told us that they will take all of us to Abuja but we refused and they seized all our phones. Daddy (Col. Are) wasn’t around at the time.
“When he came back and the DSS personnel saw him, they were perplexed because they claimed that they did not know that it was his house they were sent to.
“They started pleading with him that they were only obeying orders. As we speak, we are still parking our property but I don’t know when we will finish.
“They have not allowed us to go out and refused to permit people to come in to help us. We are currently at their mercy.”
However, DSS operatives harassed the Thisday crime reporter, Miss Chiemelie Ezeobi, and two others from Vanguard, Esther Onyegbula and Akeem Salau, by seizing their phones.
The female operative, who allegedly bit Mrs. Are, went through the phones to ensure no pictures were taken.
A senior operative later ordered her and others to release the phones to the reporters and escort them out.
It was the same female operative that chased away DAILY POST correspondent from the scene.
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