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SSS Operatives Raid The
Exclusive Newspapers Offices
In the early hours of Friday August 19, 2005, armed men claiming to be
officials of the State Security Service (SSS) stormed the premises of “The
Exclusive” Newspapers confiscated copies of the newspapers and threatened
to arrest staff and close down the media house for publishing news stories
deemed unfavourable to the Federal government.
The men numbering about 14 with only one
female, arrived the newspaper’s office in a white Mercedes bus and
cordoned off the building housing the newspapers, brandishing their
weapons.
While three of them entered into the main
office, the others took strategic positions around the building and on the
street.
The leader of the team at first posed as
a prospective buyer and approached staff asking to buy 150 copies of the
current edition (August 16, 2005). The men were informed that there was no
way they could buy that quantity from the office and were advised to get
them from vendors at newsstands. Realising that their tactics will not
work, they resorted to intimidation and harassment of the staff. They
ordered the staff to immediately bring out all copies of the current
edition and those of July 27 left in the office.
The staff obeyed and retrieved from their
shelf about 200 copies, which they handed over to the security operatives
which they took away. The SSS agents threatened to arrest staff if the
newspaper ran further articles unfavorable to the government, according to
Osa Irabor, the editor. They also confiscated copies of The Exclusive from
newsstands, and warned vendors not to sell it. Several vendors found
selling the tabloid were detained for several hours before being released
without charge.
A statement signed by the editor of the
newspaper, Osa Irabor said "The "sin" of The Exclusive might not be
unconnected with the lead story of the August 16 edition with the cover
story “Igbo traders ready to reject the naira and that of July 27 with a
cover story “Igbo youths prepare for war”.
The SSS has of recent been trying to
suppress publications reporting on MASSOB and its activities. In January,
SSS agents in the southeastern city of
Enugu
raided newsstands and harassed vendors selling copies of the local tabloid
Eastern Pilot, which carried a story on MASSOB claiming the “emergence of
a new Biafra nation.” In September 2004, the SSS arrested Isaac Umunna, a
well-known journalist and editorial consultant to the small Lagos-based
weekly Global Star, and detained him for eight days after the paper
published stories on MASSOB.
Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) expressed
its outrage over the “perverse methods of intimidation” used against The
Exclusive by the Security agents which carried out a heavy-handed raid on
the paper's offices and then used threats to deter street vendors from
selling its latest issue.
RSF called on Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the African Union (AU)
Commission, to make a formal protest about the permanent climate of
hostility towards journalists in
Nigeria.
The New York based Committee to Protect
Journalists also expressed outrage at a raid by the SSS.
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