How ex-DSS DG, Defence Minister use Buhari’s name to swindle 2023 presidential aspirants — Security source

Two top former Federal Government officials and a native of Katsina State have been fingered in a racket that is actively swindling many top politicians desperate to secure presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 elections.

One of the two men, according to a credible security source, is a former Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS) while his partner in crime is a retired general from one of the northern states, and a former Defence Minister.

The two former Federal Government officials, the source said, are working in concert with a native of Daura, Katsina State to fleece many aspirants jostling for the presidential ticket in 2023.

According to the source, a South-South governor, who is rounding off his second term in office, and has indicated interest in the presidency, has already lost hundreds of millions of Naira to the three-man syndicate.

Similarly, another presidential aspirant from the southern part of the country, who runs a strategic Federal Government agency, has also been swindled by the syndicate, which lured him into the presidential race with assurance that they would get President Muhammadu Buhari to back him.

Sunday Vanguard was, however, unable to confirm the exact amount of money the two presidential aspirants might have coughed out for the syndicate, which is said to have defrauded other unsuspecting Nigerian politicians seeking for other juicy offices in the country.

A top official, who is familiar with the antics of the three racketeers, told Sunday Vanguard that security agencies had begun to monitor them so that they do not create problems for the system as the nation prepares for the 2023 elections.

The top source explained: “The trio have set up themselves as an extorting syndicate using their accalimed proximity to the Presidential Villa by assuring their victims that they will use their connections to secure presidential tickets and nominations for them on the payment of prescribed amount of money running into millions of Naira.

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“But the truth of the matter is that these elements do not have the ears of the President as they are no longer close to him as they claim but merely use the man from Katsina State to deceive their victims and bolt away with their money.“It is unfortunate that these three men continue to make many unsuspecting but desperate politicians to believe that they still have control over the levers of power at the highest level in the country and that they can make them to become whatever they want next year. The truth is that they do not have such powers and access”.

Sunday Vanguard learned that the two former top functionaries, who continue to pose as close allies of the President and top members of the All Progressives Congress, might actually be working against the interest of the President and the APC because of their activities before and during the party’s National Convention.

One of the two men, Sunday Vanguard understood, was slated to serve in one of the strategic committees of the APC National Convention, but he never showed up.

It was also learnt that while the three men tried to discredit the Convention and convince many that the event would not hold, they later boycotted it all together when it became obvious that the party would push ahead with the event which ended without any hitch. (Vanguard)