DSS cautions against ethnic, religious war in Nigeria

The Department of State Services (DSS) on Wednesday cautioned against instigations for ethnic and religious conflicts in Nigeria.

The DSS in a statement on Wednesday by its spokesman, Peter Afunanya, noted that the service had on January 11, 2021, raised an alert of alleged plans by some elements working with external forces to incite religious violence in the country.

Afunanya, in the statement indicated that some individuals, collaborating with external forces, plot to incite religious violence in certain states identified to include Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Rivers, Oyo, and Lagos, including states in the South East.

The DSS, accordingly, alerted: “The Department of State Services (DSS) hereby reminds the public of its earlier warnings about plans by persons and groups to exploit some fault lines to cause ethno-religious violence in parts of the country.

“Latest developments indicate desperate efforts by these groups to subvert public order.  In this regard, they have continued to resort to inciting, unguarded and divisive statements and acts. The objective is to pit citizens against one another in order to apparently inflame the embers of tribal and religious discords.”

The Service admonished “these elements to desist forthwith from their (planned) nefarious acts or face the full wrath of the law.”

The DSS assured citizens that it would collaborate with other security agencies to ensure that public order was maintained in all parts of the country.

It reiterated that those hatching such evil plots should desist from them in the interest of peace, security, and development of the nation.

However, the DSS was silent on the tension created by the killer Fulani herdsmen across the country where indigenous Nigerians are no longer safe in their ancestral communities.