Multiple senior security sources told SaharaReporters that the alleged victimisation of officers escalated after more than 200 DSS operatives, most of them from northern Nigeria, were dismissed following the scandal.
The Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Oluwatosin Ajayi, has intensified what senior security sources describe as a campaign against officers suspected of leaking details of the agency's controversial 2025 promotion examination scandal to the media, despite earlier disciplinary actions taken in the aftermath of the controversy.
Multiple senior security sources told SaharaReporters that the alleged victimisation of officers escalated after more than 200 DSS operatives, most of them from northern Nigeria, were dismissed following the scandal.
The promotion exercise, which sparked outrage within the agency, allegedly claimed the lives of at least eight officers.
SaharaReporters had reported in September 2025 that several DSS personnel accused the agency of subjecting them to "inhumane and chaotic conditions" during the promotion examinations after they were allegedly forced to finance their own transportation and accommodation because no official travel or hotel allowances were provided.
