Pelumi Olajengbesi, a human rights attorney, has criticized the Department of State Services (DSS) for sending agents to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State to demand money from travellers entering the country.
The police’s behaviour, according to him, was ludicrous and disgraceful for the entire nation.
Olajengbesi, an attorney with offices in Abuja, revealed this in a post on his Facebook page on Tuesday in response to an incident at the airport’s arrivals wing where several DSS agents allegedly asked travellers for cash.
Olajengbesi described the trend as shocking just as he called on the Director-General of the service to live up to the expectations and act swiftly in redeeming the image of the agency in the interest of the country.
The post read, “It is actually an embarrassment to the entire nation to have DSS officers vetting people coming into the country at the Lagos airport begging for money. One can forgive immigration and customs officers because this is simply customary, but a very important agency like the DSS is shocking.
“This is a wake-up call to the DG DSS. The entire world is moving on from petty irresponsibility, people are not being delayed for security questioning but with “abeg bless your boy.”
It should be recalled that the Nigeria Immigration Service’s Comptroller-General, Isah Idris, launched a probe into an extortion case involving agency employees at an airport a few weeks ago.
The directive came in response to a tweet made recently by a Nigerian travelling to Dubai who claimed that under 40 other Nigerians were victims of widespread extortion.
Idris also ordered, “the withdrawal” of the entire shift on duty at the time of the incident.
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