Says A Criminal is a Criminal, Irrespective of Ethnicity or Religion.
—bans operatives from arresting people over civil matters
Mr. Oluwatosin Ajayi marked two years as Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) on August 28, 2026. He joined the DSS as a young officer and, in 36 years, steadily rose through the ranks, making history as the first cadet officer of the DSS to rise to the zenith of the secret service. In this interview with senior editors, he speaks on key national security issues, including the protracted battle against terrorism and insurgency, offering insights into what drives crime and the way forward.
Q: You have finally decided to speak elaborately with the press after many failed attempts. What informed this decision?
DG DSS: I changed my mind to encourage an improved relationship between the media and security agencies in Nigeria. More so, it is not unusual for intelligence organisations globally to do this when the need arises. Our counterpart, the current Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), held a televised briefing on September 16, 2025, where he spoke about the Agency’s fight against criminal cartels, terrorism, and drug traffickers. Traditionally, the MI6 Chief also makes an annual public speech aimed at building public trust and explaining threats.
Q: Your Department is 40 years old now. That’s a huge milestone. We expected some fanfare, but it’s quite quiet. Can you walk us through your experience over these past decades? What has it been like, and what has happened so far?
DG DSS: Intelligence organisations are not disposed to public fanfare. We hold most of our celebrations internally. More so, the mood of the nation does not warrant that now.
The background is that I grew up in the Service. I started as a Cadet Officer, rose through the ranks, and, by God’s grace, I am here. So, I have been part of the system; I acknowledge our challenges and problems, and I know the strengths and weaknesses of the system. Thus, what I have done over the last two years is not different from what I did at every level of leadership I held before now.
In summary, I am building on past management’s successes, improving on our weaknesses, and developing our strengths. One result I think you can see is, firstly, strict law enforcement, which helps every society. The convictions of terror suspects and other criminal elements so far prove this. Secondly, and quite importantly, is improving cooperation between sister agencies and our foreign allies. I’m sure you must have noticed that, alongside the Service’s improved respect for human rights.
Where we commit unavoidable errors, we proactively compensate victims without waiting for litigation. In cases where the Court has issued an order, we ensure the compensation meets the highest standards of adequacy. For instance, in a ₦10 million compensation judgment, the person we mistakenly shot deserved more, so we added ₦10 million to it. We also provided him with fully covered medical treatment.
And, of course, we are purging ourselves. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards unethical conduct; such staff are not accommodated in our Service. We enforce a strict disciplinary process and keep the public duly informed. The idea is to be proactive in addressing misconduct to ensure that ex-staff do not go on to commit crimes in our name. That’s a summary of what I have concentrated on in the past two years.
**Q: Kindly tell us about some specific reforms.**
**DG DSS:** The reforms fall into the five broad categories I mentioned: law enforcement, synergy, accountability in what we do as a Service, respect for human rights, and infrastructural/administrative reforms to enhance operational efficiency.
**Q: Narrowing down to your focus on accountability and human rights: before you came in as DG, the DSS was known for arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial treatment of suspects. Can you speak to the specific actions you took that led to the improvements we are seeing now?**
**DG DSS:** We visibly separated civil matters from criminal matters. My experience throughout my career path showed that we conflated the two. For instance—and I must thank you in the media for my three awards from IPI, NUJ, and BON—you cannot apply the use of force in civil matters.
Even some criminal matters don’t require force. Take, for example, the attempt at establishing a shadow government involving Pat Utomi. Rather than arrest him, we sought judicial interpretation, and the court ruled that his venture was unconstitutional, illegal, and a threat to national security.
So it was with SERAP, which accused two DSS operatives of invading their premises; they approached the court with my approval. Throughout the process, nobody was arrested, and the court awarded over ₦100 million in their favour.
The case with the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, is similar. From day one when he went to court, the court asked if we objected to his bail, and we said no because we didn’t arrest him in the first place. He was granted bail on self-recognition, so whatever transpired regarding his violation of the court process was unrelated to the Service. The court revoked it, but eventually granted him bail with conditions.
**Q: So, you now go to court for civil matters?**
**DG DSS:** Yes. I have told my people there should be no arrest in any civil case. And I’m sure you have found out that, even in cases involving journalists, we approach the court instead, because we do similar work. I call you our professional colleagues. The only difference is that, while you inform the public, we inform the Government. And because we inform the Government, our information is classified until we declassify it.
**Q: Journalists will disagree when you call them your professional colleagues because, before you came, your Agency was known for serial violations of press freedom.**
**DG DSS:** You can attest to the fact that not a single journalist has been victimised under my watch. Where any misgivings arose, and I became aware of them, we responded immediately and offered an apology. Like the case of a journalist in Plateau State: I apologised for our staff’s error, and the NUJ President confirmed it. It was one of the reasons cited for awarding me NUJ Man of the Year 2026. If, for any reason, we need to question a journalist, we go through the IPI, the NUJ, or any other relevant body.
**Q: But what suddenly changed in the relationship between this Agency and the media? It was very frosty in the past, and your Agency was known for being a major violator of press freedom, journalist safety, and independent journalism.**
**DG DSS:** What changed is that I believe civil matters do not require the use of force. We also have a responsibility to protect journalists’ rights so they can do their job. Having been in the system, I have seen many things we could have handled better, and I am bringing those lessons to bear.
Journalists do work similar to ours. In some cases, we even rely on them for information, so it makes no sense to use force against them. We can simply call the NUJ President, the IPI, or another relevant body if there is an infraction because they are public figures, not criminals, terrorists, or people hiding in the forest. That is why I decided we must protect journalists and allow them to do their work. Our energy is focused on terrorists and other criminals, not on fighting our partners. Differences can be resolved through dialogue or judicial interpretation.
Q: People are wondering how an Agency that was once seen as hostile to the media now enjoys a robust relationship with it, to the point where you are receiving several honours from media organisations.
DG DSS: As I said earlier, what has changed is our respect for people’s right to do their jobs without hindrance. Our responsibility is to protect those rights.
If a journalist publishes an inaccurate report about the Service, my first step is to request a correction, not to make an arrest. We’ve done this on several occasions. For instance, when some media organisations reported that the DSS invaded the Lagos State House of Assembly, we demanded a retraction of the story within seven days. When they complied, we took no further action because that’s the proper civil approach.
The same happened with the report from *Order Paper*, which alleged that the DSS was involved in moves to impeach the Senate President. We clarified the facts and requested a retraction. Where there is a refusal, we seek redress through the courts, not through arrests. That is the same approach we adopted in cases involving SERAP and Sahara Reporters.
Q: Where do you stand on SERAP? Is there no way to resolve the matter out of court?
DG DSS: We are very open to conversation if they apologise. We didn’t invade SERAP, and the Court has ruled in favour of the two operatives who sued for defamation. SERAP chose to appeal the ruling, and we respect their right to do so.
Q: Let me follow up on a similar subject: the issue of detention. Your Agency had a reputation for arbitrary arrests and prolonged detention, then releasing those found innocent without any justice or redress. Lately, you’ve been paying compensation in several cases. What informed this change in approach?
DG DSS: If I, as leader of this organisation, can tell my staff across the states to apologise when wrong, that must mean something. It is a sign of courage to admit errors and to pay compensation when a mistake is made without waiting for a court order. So, when you wrong us, should you grandstand instead of apologizing and turn it into a pity party or false claims of harassment?
The simple reason for the change is: you cannot inflict injury on someone, admit it was a mistake, and then refuse to seek restitution. Even before God, there is room for restitution. Sometimes it is to heal trauma or to provide resources to help reintegrate someone after disrupting their life.
Most times, we follow up to see how to get the victim back into business. What people hear is initial compensation, like the Jos businessman; we actually went further to set up a business for him, and he is now an employer of others.
Q: What happened to the Jos businessman?**
**DG DSS:** He was mistakenly shot, and in 2016, there was a court judgment for the Service to pay compensation of ₦10 million.
Q: In 2016?
DG DSS: Yes, it happened in 2016. A court ordered the Service to pay him ₦10 million in compensation, but that wasn’t done. I take responsibility and won’t justify what happened then. However, on assuming office as DG, I ordered a review of such cases because I believed we had to correct past mistakes. As the Yoruba say, *“When you wake up, that’s your morning.”* It’s never too late to do the right thing.
When I was appointed, the President’s charge to me was that he expected me to do things differently, respect people’s rights, and uphold the reputation I had built. That guided my decision. Our review showed that, in some cases, we were clearly wrong. Compensation for operational mistakes is not uncommon; countries such as the UK and others have done the same in similar circumstances.
After our medical team assessed his condition and found that his leg had deteriorated significantly, we offered him treatment in our hospital and eventually approved an additional ₦10 million to help him rebuild his livelihood. For me, it was about justice, accountability, and strengthening public confidence in the Service.
Q: You call this restorative justice, and we learned that your Agency has so far paid about ₦300 million in compensation. Apart from the Jos businessman, what are the other cases?
DG DSS: There are several others. In one case, an Abuja-based businesswoman was mistakenly arrested during an operation targeting suspected oil bunkerers. She was simply there to deliver goods. Once investigations confirmed she was innocent, she was paid an initial ₦10 million in compensation, and I directed my officers to support her in rebuilding her business.
There was also the case of the Ifedi couple, arrested before I became DG and detained in Wawa. It was later established they were not terrorists. The woman’s only link was that IPOB members patronised her restaurant, which was clearly not enough to label her a member. I ordered their release, compensated the husband (a professor), and we are discussing how to preserve his late wife’s memory by acquiring the restaurant’s premises and rebuilding it in her honour.
Those are just a few examples. There are many other cases across the country where people who were wrongfully detained have been released and compensated.
One case that received little media attention involved an operation in Cross River State. Our operatives were pursuing a notorious kidnapper who fled into a student area. During the operation, four female students had their phones damaged. When I was briefed, I directed that their phones be replaced immediately. The students insisted they only wanted the repair of the damaged devices, which spoke to their integrity. I also approved scholarships to support their education. For me, that’s the right way to respond when innocent people are affected during legitimate operations.
Q: Was this in addition to their phones?
DG DSS: Yes. My three children were in universities at some point in their lives, and I imagined how they’d feel seeing people with guns destroying their phones. I know the trauma and decided to do something to ease it. I could list a lot more, but the total amount paid is certainly higher than ₦300 million. Some cases don’t get to the press at all.
Q: What is the philosophy behind this restorative justice within an intelligence agency?
DG DSS: The philosophy is that the Intelligence Community leverages humans as its greatest asset, not just technology. For intelligence, you need the people. An Intelligence Service that is completely alienated from the people by its conduct cannot get the credible information it needs.
Much as our activities are not open, we do a lot to endear ourselves to the public. We try to conceal these activities, but some still leak. For instance, our humanitarian outreach across the LGAs targeting the indigent was not made public, but one LGA chairman put it out: *“Look at what the DSS did for our people.”
We have offices across all 774 local government areas and 37 commands. When people are hurting or aggrieved, even if they have information, they might not volunteer it. That is why we correct any injustice against the people.
Q: Is there a link between that philosophy and your recent recruitment drive targeting orphanages? How did that come about?
DG DSS: It’s part of our philosophy that people are our greatest intelligence asset. Human intelligence is more valuable than any technology because people can provide context, answer questions, and be engaged repeatedly in ways machines cannot. That’s why I believe in treating people fairly and correcting injustices. When people trust you, they are more willing to work with you. In security, we summarise it this way: one of the most effective counterterrorism measures is *”reducing areas of discontent.”
Q: Are you saying those in orphanages are discontented, or is it because you see them as valuable human assets?
DG DSS: First and foremost, they are part of our society that can be easily forgotten if care is not taken, so they are vulnerable. Despite that, they can be very useful. The ones we have recruited in the past have done very well for us.
I have been doing this long before I became DG, in every state where I served as State Director. One recruit remained in the orphanage and helped to groom and reorient others to become better citizens. So, they form part of our human assets, but without deliberate action to seek them out, they could easily be forgotten. Interestingly, from experience, some of our best brains come from there. I am now doing at the national level what I did quietly for 14 years as State Director across five states.
Q: Are these recruits graduates?
DG DSS: Graduates are recruited into the officer cadre, while others are recruited into our junior cadre with a First School Leaving Certificate. Afterwards, they undergo training within the Service.
Q: Some people see your Agency as simply providing intelligence that makes the Government happy. What is your response to that?
DG DSS: Some people even say we only act after crimes are committed, but much of our intelligence work is classified, so the public never sees it. Our job is to provide intelligence to the Government and sister agencies, including advice on the security implications of policies, not to tell the Government what it wants to hear.
Intelligence helps prevent attacks, rescue victims, identify perpetrators, and make arrests. While many of those successes cannot be disclosed, recent cases—including suspects arrested for planned terrorist attacks—show that preventive intelligence is at work.
Q: If you gather all this intelligence, why doesn’t the Government do enough to stop these attacks from happening?
DG DSS: I recognise that attacks are still happening, which tends to diminish our efforts in the public eye. Someone whose child was kidnapped doesn’t care if you prevented 200 other attacks; for that person, you haven’t achieved anything. Premised on that, I acknowledge we need to do more. The President keeps urging the protection of Nigerian lives and cautions that *”Nigerians are in a hurry to celebrate peace.”* That is what is important, and we have to do more.
Q: Speaking specifically about intelligence sharing, what happened in the cases where attacks were successfully carried out?
DG DSS: All over the world, no one can completely root out crime 100 per cent. But we owe it to this generation and those unborn to reduce crimes to the barest minimum.
Look at nations that started the intelligence business long before us—here we are talking about 40 years of existence. Consider global threat levels and how even the most powerful nations are currently grappling with internal insurgencies and heightened violent crime. Intelligence anywhere in the world cannot be perfect.
Secondly, even where we get good intelligence, there are issues of operational capability, terrain, and strategic decision-making. Hence, presidential initiatives on State Police and forest guards are strategic solutions to enable vulnerable communities to defend themselves.
Imagine our proximity to the Sahel and the difficult terrain around Lake Chad, or the Niger Delta militancy and the challenge of regular forces navigating the creeks. These peculiar problems require strategic solutions. A state with difficult terrain deploying its own police force can respond more effectively than a distant federal authority. So, while intelligence exists, operational difficulties in curbing threats also exist.
Q: Do those factors contribute to the delay in swift responses? For instance, during the Oriire attack in Oyo State, victims were held for weeks before being rescued.
**DG DSS:** Immediately the incident happened, based on credible intelligence, troops pursued the perpetrators. Sadly, a vigilante and a policeman were killed initially. During a second raid, more were killed, bringing fatalities to nine—four civilians and five security personnel. It was a delicate operation involving a two-and-a-half-year-old infant who could not run if we stormed the location.
As expected, the rescue operation generated social media disinformation; you have to filter through that. For example, while the incident lasted, deepfake videos were posted showing children with laceration marks. Those were actually old footages of witchcraft-related incidents from another country, passed off as real-time events here. Recall that when the rescued victims were freed, they recounted that they were handled carefully by the captors to keep them alive.
Media outlets must engage in fact-finding and separate fact from fiction. Patriotic citizens understood that lives were lost during the rescue operation and empathised, recognizing the nature of the kidnap group—an international terrorist cell linked to Al-Qaeda.
Citizens should know that the incarcerated leaders of the kidnap group, whom the terrorists demanded in exchange for the victims, were arrested last year by the Service. Their initial arrest prevented planned high-profile attacks. These suspects were complicit in the Abuja-Kaduna train attack and were planning large-scale kidnappings of foreigners, women, and children to demand state recognition. The kingpins have now been sentenced to life imprisonment, and the Service is pushing for stiffer penalties on appeal.
Q: How would you assess the working relationship between your Agency, sister agencies in Nigeria, and foreign intelligence partners?**
**DG DSS: Locally, our intelligence sharing is strong. Over decades, we have collaborated with allies in the US, the UK, France, and several European countries. After sharing intelligence, we determine where joint operations on the ground are required. Don’t forget that around the year 2000, US military personnel joined us to address specific threats.
One of our strengths is that we are open with our partners; we get support when needed and support them in return. Can it be better? Yes. We will achieve even more through our current liaisons.
Q: What about inter-agency rivalry? How are you navigating that?
**DG DSS:** Inter-agency rivalry comes down to leadership. Whenever it happens, it is because a leader encourages it. My operatives know I insist on collaboration and joint operations.
I must commend the current leadership of all security agencies; we have an excellent working relationship. This was demonstrated in Oriire, Oyo State, where no single agency claimed exclusive credit. It was jointly achieved. When the General Officer Commanding (GOC) gave his brief, he acknowledged every participating agency—DSS, Navy, Air Force, Police, NSCDC, and local vigilantes.
Q: You mentioned pushing for the death sentence for convicted Ansaru leaders. However, Nigeria has not carried out executions in nearly 20 years. Is there an effort to get the President to sign death warrants?
DG DSS: A nation evolves with its realities. Years ago, when we did not face this scale of violent terrorism, hesitation over signing death warrants reflected a different context. Today, with terrorists targeting innocent citizens in public spaces, the reality has changed. I doubt any responsible authority faced with this level of brutality would refuse to sign death warrants.
Q: What are you doing differently that is yielding massive convictions across the country?
DG DSS: Diligent prosecution. It is not enough to allege that someone committed a crime; you must prove it in court. We are strengthening our investigations, evidence gathering, and legal preparation because justice depends on facts presented before the court. Even a strong case will fail without convincing evidence.
Q: We hear of major infrastructural developments across the DSS in the past two years. How did you achieve this?
DG DSS: From my first day as Director-General, one of my priorities was providing a functional working environment for our officers. We completed the construction of a new modern office complex built by Julius Berger to accommodate our expanded organizational structure, alongside executing several welfare and capacity-building projects across the country.
Q: How has the DSS fared overall in its 40 years of existence?
DG DSS: To summarize: Nigeria remains a united nation; no President has been assassinated in the last 40 years; and we have sustained 29 years of unbroken democracy. Our intelligence contributions to these outcomes are clear. However, we still have a lot to do given current security challenges, especially terrorism and violent crime.
There should be no ethnic colouration to crime; we cannot criminalize an entire ethnic group. Between 2003 and 2007, we faced kidnappings in the South-East and South-South. More recently, we had the case of Evans, the convicted kidnapper. In earlier decades, armed robbery was the main threat—notorious robbers like Ishola Oyenusi (“Dr. Oyenusi”), Lawrence Anini, and Monday Osunbor dominated the news.
Apart from robbery, we faced religious insurgencies like Maitatsine and Kalakato. A criminal should be treated strictly as a criminal, irrespective of ethnicity, race, or religion.
Boko Haram began around 1998, but its violent campaign escalated during the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. The conflict in Benue and Plateau States is age-long, originating as land disputes between local farmers and Fulani pastoralists. Over time, criminal groups and foreign-linked terrorists exploited these local disputes to advance their own agendas.
**Q: It seems there was a paradigm shift in public perception under the previous administration, where a particular ethnic group was viewed as being primarily involved in kidnapping and land-grabbing. What changed?**
DG DSS: What changed is the erosion of societal values and the absence of local governance. I grew up in Oyo North alongside Fulani communities. In those days, local governance extended to remote areas through Native Authorities, the Regional Forest Guard Law of 1956, and subsequently the Land Use Act and Forests Act of 1978.
Today, the lack of governance in remote areas has created ungoverned spaces that criminals exploit. This is why we are resuscitating the Forest Guards.
During one of our investigations into herder-farmer clashes, we found that a group of community youths collected ₦70,000 from nomads to graze livestock on a piece of land. Later, the actual landowners attacked the nomads, who fled and abandoned their cattle. The community then slaughtered and shared the herd. In retaliation, the nomads returned and killed members of the community over livestock.
This shows how deep the breakdown of values has become across security, health, education, and markets. We need an attitudinal rebirth. Where our own operatives engage in unethical conduct or ethnic agendas, we purge them and publish their names so they cannot defraud the public using our name.
Regarding non-state security actors like Sunday Igboho: I have always advocated for community policing, but it requires formal government approval, training, and oversight. Otherwise, it amounts to taking the law into one’s hands.
Q: What is the Service doing regarding the proliferation of arms across the country?
DG DSS: Over decades, illicit arms have spread across the North and South, exacerbated by arms smuggling and thefts from official armouries by corrupt elements.
To address this, the Government is enforcing strict law enforcement. That is why the DSS is focused on securing convictions rather than mere arraignments. We have secured seven death sentences—four in the Owo church attack case, and one each in Kogi, Katsina, and Sokoto—alongside long-term prison sentences ranging between 20 and 40 years.
We are also disrupting arms supply chains. Between May 29, 2023, and date, the DSS has intercepted and recovered **676 firearms and 332,874 rounds of ammunition** of various calibres. The military, Police, and sister agencies have also made significant recoveries, but we must sustain the pressure.
Q: As your tenure progresses, what top priorities should citizens expect from the DSS?
DG DSS: To quote the President again: “Nigerians are in a hurry to celebrate peace.”
Citizens should expect an intensified fight against terror, driven by strict law enforcement. The turning point will come when we unite against common security threats, demonize criminality, and refuse to politicize insecurity. The media must also build public trust in governance and report stories that project hope and effort, rather than inadvertently serving as platforms for terrorist propaganda.
