Operatives of the Department of State Security have stormed the Lagos office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, preventing officials of the anti-graft agency from gaining access to their office in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Impeccable sources in both agencies told The PUNCH that there has been an ongoing rivalry between the DSS and the EFCC over the ownership of the building.
Our correspondent gathered that the DSS operatives stormed the office around 7:00 am on Tuesday, and refused to leave despite dialogue between operatives of both agencies, an impeccable source confirmed the development to our correspondent in a telephone interview.
An official of the EFCC who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said, “There’s been a running battle between us and the DSS over who owns the office because the office was used by them before the EFCC came on board and it was handed over to us.
“But it’s been an administrative issue, and the matter is not in court and hasn’t caused any fracas before now. But we don’t understand why they have to block our office and deny our officials access when a new government just came in.”
“The office used to be ours, and we have been fighting over it for years now, and the EFCC knows,” a DSS source said.
Meanwhile, spokespersons for both agencies, Wilson Uwujaren of the EFCC, and Dr Peter Afunaya of the DSS did not respond to inquiries by our correspondent over the development.