Insecurity: Ex- DSS Chief Says Pantami Should Not Have Been Appointed Minister

A former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has argued that the appointment of Isa Pantami as Minister of Communications and Digital Economy exposed serious flaws in Nigeria’s security vetting system.
Amachree made the observation in his memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, where he reflected on his four decades in the country’s intelligence service and examined some of the most contentious moments in Nigeria’s security history.
One of those moments, he said, was the controversy that erupted in 2021 after old sermons and public comments allegedly linking Pantami to sympathetic views of extremist groups, including al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Boko Haram, resurfaced online.
According to the retired intelligence officer, the episode raised troubling questions about how an individual responsible for overseeing Nigeria’s telecommunications and digital infrastructure was able to clear the country’s security screening process.
Amachree explained that the DSS conducts comprehensive background checks on nominees for sensitive public offices, reviewing their affiliations, public speeches, academic records, political leanings, associations and online activities before submitting intelligence reports to the President and, where necessary, the National Assembly. However, he stressed that the agency’s role is strictly advisory.
Although he said he could not confirm the contents of Pantami’s security report, Amachree expressed doubt that the minister’s past public statements would have escaped the attention of intelligence officers. He suggested that political considerations—including federal character, regional balancing and internal party calculations—can sometimes outweigh security recommendations.
Reflecting on Pantami’s confirmation by the Senate, Amachree recalled that then Senate spokesman, Ajibola Basiru, said lawmakers received no adverse security report before approving the nomination.
The former DSS officer said the development pointed to what he described as the politicisation of intelligence. In his view, either any adverse findings were removed before reaching the Senate, or they were ignored because of political interests.
He argued that both possibilities reveal institutional weaknesses in Nigeria’s national security framework and undermine confidence in the country’s intelligence process.
Amachree also maintained that the controversy damaged public trust in Nigeria’s counterterrorism campaign, noting the contradiction of prosecuting insurgents while defending the appointment of a public official whose past remarks had attracted widespread scrutiny.
Describing the episode as a cautionary tale, he urged future administrations to ensure that security assessments are treated with the seriousness they deserve, especially when making appointments to positions that oversee critical national infrastructure.