Dickson faults APC’s “politicisation of national security” as Senate screens ambassadorial nominees
Senator Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa West) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of weaponising national issues for political gain, following the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs’ screening of three ambassadorial nominees earlier in the week.
The nominees, former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke; former Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Kayode Are; and career diplomat Aminu Dalhatu, appeared before the committee for a mandatory vetting session.
Dickson, the committee’s Vice Chairman, said it was the duty of senators to ask “relevant and dispassionate questions” in order to clear lingering controversies around the nominees.
During the session, Senator Dickson asked Ambassador Oke to directly address issues surrounding his controversial 2017 exit from office, when the APC-led government linked him to the money recovered from an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, a case that later collapsed.
Dickson said Oke, “an experienced public officer and former Chief of Intelligence,” responded by highlighting his professional achievements before formally presenting the committee with a court order affirming his acquittal after the withdrawal of all charges by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to Dickson, the document only confirmed what he had “long held” that Oke had been a casualty of political vendettas orchestrated under the previous administration.
In a strongly worded critique, the Bayelsa senator accused the ruling party of systematically weaponising major national issues for partisan gain.
He said the APC “politicised and ethnicised” the Boko Haram insurgency and broader terrorism challenges, yet failed to improve national security even with a president from the North.
He also condemned what he described as the party’s hypocrisy on subsidy, noting that APC leaders vehemently opposed subsidy reduction under the PDP but later implemented a “harsher, total removal” that has plunged millions into hardship.
Dickson further claimed that the APC’s anti-corruption crusade was “one-sided,” targeting opposition leaders and criminalising the PDP’s leadership, adding that Oke’s ordeal mirrored the experience of former National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, who spent years in detention without conviction.
The former Bayelsa governor stressed that institutions under the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) must be handled with “greater respect and discretion,” insisting that intelligence agencies should not be dragged into political battles.
“Once an assignment or objective is approved by a sitting President and is not unlawful.
“The intelligence chief must be protected, even if politicians disagree.”
He warned that politicising security agencies risks compromising the nation’s intelligence architecture.
Following Oke’s explanation and presentation of the court order, Dickson said he voted to clear the former NIA chief, arguing that the EFCC case “should not have started in the first place.”
He also voted in support of nominees Kayode Are and Aminu Dalhatu, whom he described as “very experienced and eminently qualified Nigerians.”
Dickson thanked the trio for their past service and urged them to “do their best for the nation” in their new diplomatic postings.
“We will be monitoring,” he added.
