A civil society organization, Press Freedom and Safety of Journalists Field Monitors from the six geopolitical zones of the country on Thursday demanded a stop to the continued harassment of the Executive Director of International Press Centre (IPC), Comrade Lanre Arogundade and other journalists in the country by the Directorate of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies.
The monitors in a press statement signed by Rosemary Nwaebuni, S’South; Moses Ojo, S’West; Naomi Okoh, N’Central Elizabeth Achuagu, S’East; Bello Mujtaba Ramalan, North West and Abdulkareem Haruna, N’East lamented that media professionals have become endangered species in the course of carrying out their constitutional responsibilities.
‘’They frowned at the consistent attacks, intimidation, violence and sometimes killing of journalists by those whose responsibility it was to protect lives and property. “Such violence against journalists must stop”, the statement stressed.
The said the monitors noted that Mr. Arogundade was on Thursday held at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport by the DSS for nearly two hours while returning from The Gambia where he had gone to conduct a training programme on ‘Conflict Sensitive Journalism’.
The Monitors therefore demanded a stop to all these harassment on the Executive Director of IPC (Arogundade) and other journalists in the country, even as they called on the Director-General of DSS to carry out adequate training for his officers and provide adequate information management mechanism to avoid undue embarrassment of media practitioners other citizens and ridiculing of the organization.
They also demanded unreserved apology from the DSS to Arogundade for confiscating his cellphone and other harassments meted to him while he was detained on Thursday.
