Recent actions by some senior officials of the Department of State Services at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, towards Lanre Arogundade, the Executive Director of the International Press Centre, have been strongly condemned.
In a statement released on Tuesday and signed by Melody Akinjiyan, the Press Freedom Officer at IPC, the continuous harassment of Arogundade by the DSS was labeled as a systematic abuse of power and a violation of his rights.
IPC has called upon the Director-General of the DSS, specifically the personnel stationed at the airport, to halt the troubling treatment of Arogundade.
Reports indicate that DSS officers confronted the activist as he was about to board a flight destined for conferences in Berlin, Germany, on April 11.
The statement referred to the harassment as part of a series of similar incidents that have been occurring frequently.
“The event on Thursday, April 11, as Mr. Arogundade was set to board a late-night Air France Flight to Berlin, Germany for the African Freedom of Expression Exchange and the International Freedom of Expression Exchange general meetings, is yet another instance of this unwarranted behavior,” the statement expressed.
Mr. Arogundade, an acclaimed journalist, advocate for social justice and democracy, former Chairman of the Lagos State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, and former President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, has been subjected to undue scrutiny by the DSS, a situation that the IPC believes is unjustifiable given his standing within these organizations and movements.
According to the statement, the IPC boss highlighted the ordeal in a Facebook post where he detailed how senior DSS officers insisted that his name was still on their watchlist.
He recounted, “I encountered about 40 minutes of harassment by DSS officials citing that my name was still appearing on their watchlist, despite the assurance given two years ago by the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Mr. Yusuf Magaji Bichi, during a meeting with representatives from the Nigerian chapter of the International Press Institute led by Musikilu Mojeed.
“Additionally, Arogundade shared with IPC management that the senior DSS official he engaged with threatened to prevent him from traveling unless he provided his previous passports, a demand he deemed as ‘absurd and unreasonable’.
The organization emphasized that the unwavering harassment of Arogundade is in direct violation of his right to freedom of movement and stands as a contradiction to fundamental democratic values.
“IPC hereby urges the Director-General of the DSS, and specifically the officials at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, to refrain from further harassing Mr. Arogundade,” the statement concluded.