June 7, 2026
In the past, not many people knew anything about the Department of State Services (DSS) formerly known as the State Security Service (SSS). The few who knew something about the organization merely called it, government spy or the Secret Police because it reportedly operated in secrecy, wearing hoods and silencing anti-establishment critics. Indeed, its personnel wore no recognisable uniform; worked incognito and never said anything in public. The system was easily sustained during a military regime but not so in a democracy where controversies control matters of the moment. One of such matters which put the DSS in the public glare was the killing of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, Principal Private Secretary to Adams Oshiomhole the then governor of Edo state.
The Police and the DSS had 2 different investigation reports on the incident. Oshiomhole did not only reject the police report, he publicly accused the police as the killers of his aide or their associates. Many people were actually disappointed in the police because those they arrested for allegedly killing Olaitan were discovered to have been in detention at the time of the crime. This gave the impression that the DSS was a more credible entity. The disparity was not overplayed as government continued to call for synergy between and among security agencies. In the last few years however, the DSS has become so proactive that there is now a high degree of consensus that it has become the most pragmatic public agency in Nigeria. The credit without doubt goes to its new Director General and Chief Executive, Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi.
