(MISA/IFEX) – The following is a joint MISA-MFWA alert: The State Security Service (SSS), the Nigerian executive’s security service, has banned three newspapers – “Nigerian Tribune”, “The Monitor” and “New Age” – from covering events at Aso Rock, the seat of the Nigerian government. The SSS provided no reason for the decision but told affected […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The following is a joint MISA-MFWA alert:
The State Security Service (SSS), the Nigerian executive’s security service, has banned three newspapers – “Nigerian Tribune”, “The Monitor” and “New Age” – from covering events at Aso Rock, the seat of the Nigerian government. The SSS provided no reason for the decision but told affected reporters from the three papers that their names had been removed from the list of journalists who “deserved to continue reporting from the Villa.”
According to MFWA-Nigeria, on 27 October 2003, the journalists had gone to renew their accreditation to cover events at the Presidential Villa when SSS officials informed them that the three papers, their reporters and photographers were no longer on the list of journalists allowed to cover activities there.
Mac Davies Ajibade, a photographer from the “Nigerian Tribune”, told MFWA-Nigeria, “We were all called from the Villa to proceed to the accreditation centre for accreditation. When we got there, we were screened one after the other. When it got to my turn, I identified myself as a ‘Tribune’ photographer. The officer checked through the list and told me that [the] ‘Tribune”s name had been removed from the list and that I should go back because nobody would accredit me and my reporter.”
Although SSS officials gave no explanation for the decision to ban the reporters, it may be a result of recent critical reports of government activities that appeared in the newspapers.
However, Oluremi Oyo, senior special assistant to President Olusegun Obasanjo on media affairs, described reports of the ban as “inaccurate and misleading.”
In a statement issued on 30 October, Oyo said no media establishment had been barred from Aso Rock. She maintained that the reports were “willfully and grossly exaggerated” to make it seem as if there was an “all-out offensive against the media.”
Oyo explained that “access passes for all personnel of the Presidential Villa, including the press corps, are renewed once every year and the exercise for 2003 is currently being undertaken.” She added that “several criteria are applied by the Villa’s authorities in determining the acceptability of the nominees of media organisations.”
