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In August 2024, soon after Oluwatosin Ajayi was announced as the new Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS), I authored an article titled “Ajayi: A Dawn of New Era at DSS.” A paragraph in that article read: “…as an insider, he knows where the balm was wrongly applied. It is now his assignment, as a core professional, to rejuvenate the organisation, rebuild trust and commitment among the personnel and also bring back the vigour with which staff express themselves through giving their best to their jobs. These should be his lowest-hanging fruit. They should also be his initial steps towards the remaking of the Department of State Security.”
Looking back, one year later, Ajayi has shown that President Bola Tinubu was at his judgmental best when he picked him as successor to Yusuf Bichi. He has also shown that a reformist mindset is a necessary ingredient in leading change. Ajayi has proved that it is possible to refocus the DSS on its core competencies rather than make it compete with thugs for notoriety. He has shown that it is possible to work the DSS through covert operations without an alarm. Before his ascent to the office, the DSS was more notorious for sounding alarms and content creation for social media rather than delivering tangible results. It was an unprofessional service that more or less showed off its guns and emblems, enjoyed engaging civilians in fisticuffs and smashing doors with cudgels. Before Ajayi’s DGship, DSS was a beastly and ubiquitous organisation with a very poor public reputation.
Today, that smartly dressed gentleman, adoring a bespoke black suit, with a black neck tie over a white shirt, whose eyes are hidden behind designer specs, and wearing a mirror-polished black shoe, smiling with you in a very friendly conversation, could be a DSS operative. He could be on a mission against you, but he won’t be beastly and will not disrespect you. He will preserve your dignity and honour. This new culture at the DSS is delivering better results because it is supported by technology. This ‘new dawn’ indicates that the era of thuggishly armed personnel, harassing citizens off the road in crazily speeding, siren-blazing Toyota Hilux Vans, while being dressed in body-hugging marked tee-shirts and fez caps, is over. The Ajayi era is one in which the DSS now lives up to its establishment intent as a secret police. Many, like me, pray that the organisation’s past is eternally buried in the dust bins of history, so deep down beneath the surface and in depths that no one will like an exhumation adventure.
Ajayi’s appointment was Tinubu’s perfect decision. He rose through the ranks from 1990 when he joined the service as a cadet officer and climbed the ladder to become an Assistant Director and State Director, at different times, in Rivers, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Enugu, and Kogi states. Many insiders say that his posting to Kogi was punitive and was aimed at frustrating him to leave the service because the ‘system’ was not comfortable with his courageous disposition to always speak truth to power. And, he still does. This was even though he led or handled many of the most daring covert operations of the service, busting terror cells in the most volatile states. In other words, as a passionately dutiful official, he dared to put his life on the line against terrorists and daredevil non-state actors, while demanding internal reforms for the good of the organisation. This may account for the reasons his reformist ideals are now revitalising the DSS.
Ajayi has enforced the mandatory transfers of officers who the system allowed to ‘plant’ themselves in places where they could no longer germinate. Such places are called “choice stations”. He had to move them. He also appointed well-trained officers to state commands and strategic roles while institutionalising measures that enhanced discipline and professionalism. His focus on intelligence-driven covert operations has reduced public display of force by operatives, while his integration of technology for intelligence gathering has made it possible for the Service to track and stay ahead of events. Before these, he established a panel to review all inherited cases, which led to the redress of wrongful detentions and the fostering of human rights compliance.
His commitment to lawful conduct by the DSS is commendable. Through this, wrongly detained persons were freed, while the mental reorientation of operatives, which he championed, has come in handy to make his officials and operatives more law-abiding and acting in respect of the rights of citizens. This is exemplified in the way and manner the organisation has handled its complaint against Yele Sowore, a politician and publisher of an online publication. Ajayi’s predecessors would have adopted a Gestapo-style invasion.
Besides, Ajayi’s time so far at the DSS has had a positive impact on the welfare of operatives at the service. Soon after taking over the reins of power, he initiated reforms that impacted the welfare package of staff through improvements in salaries and family support initiatives, including personally visiting the families of deceased operatives and staff. This has had a direct outcome through increased dedication and outputs, leading to effective covert operations in several states of the federation where terrorists have been effectively managed, while several gunrunners and kidnappers have been picked out through coordinated raids. Personnel testimonies highlight sustained welfare improvements as a catalyst for better intelligence gathering and covert operations.
A critical review of the past and the present at DSS will show that while Ajayi’s predecessor was conservative, reactive, nepotistic in promotions, crude and heavy-handed in operations with limited use of technology, as well as overtly reactive with very strong fixation on an alarmist approach, Ajayi adopted a proactive, merit-based promotions and rewards system backed by inclusive redeployments and hands-on engagement, built around tech-driven operations and intelligence sharing with sister agencies. While his predecessor neglected welfare, allowed stagnation in rank and favoured alliances built along ethnic lines, which delivered low morale, Ajayi changed the narrative with improved staff welfare and morale boosters like promotions. Perhaps, this was the reason the headquarters of the organisation was thrown into frenzy in August 2024, when he was announced as a replacement. He has also created a collaborative tie with other sister agencies to build trust and capacity. These have worked together to create a positive image for the DSS and built trust with the public. I am told that operatives at the DSS Headquarters no longer fear that a DG’s wife, or son, would saunter into the complex and operatives on errands like they are domestic servants.
Looking forward, it goes without saying that Ajayi has, between August 28, 2024 and September 25, 2025, steadily pushed the reformation of the DSS, to reposition it as a professional service with upbeat operatives and staff who are driving the new image and vision for the organisation. Though there may still be hurdles to scale, the continued building of the new momentum could solidify and sustain the gains achieved by Ajayi’s reformative work, which could make him Tinubu’s most impactful security appointment.
