A VETERAN journalist, Lanre Arogundade, recently removed from the State Security Service (SSS) watchlist after 40 years, has challenged Nigerian security agencies to focus on tackling insecurity in the country rather than harassing journalists and activists.
The executive director of the International Press Centre (IPC), in a chat with The ICIR on Thursday, May 8, advised security agencies to prioritise tackling issues of insecurity, namely terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping, rather than targeting journalists and activists.
“We have enough problems of insecurity in Nigeria. We have so many acts of terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping taking place across the country. They should ensure that there’s security of lives and property in the country,” he said.
He emphasised that journalists like him could not pose a threat to national security, saying, “It is those who carry out acts of terrorism that are a threat to the country, not those of us who fight for the rights of the people within a democratic space.”
Arogundade expressed mixed feelings about his removal from the watchlist, saying he was relieved but also felt a sense of injustice.
“It’s a kind of mixed feeling; hopefully, it is all over… One is relieved. The other feeling is also the injustice of it all, or, if you like, “Why should this happen?”
According to him, his troubles with the Nigerian government began in 1984 during the military regime of former Head of State Muhammadu Buhari. At the time, he was the president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). He led a nationwide protest against the commercialisation of education in the country.
He was subsequently detained and interrogated several times, after which his name was put on the watchlist.
“We had a nationwide protest against the increase in school fees or commercialisation of education by the Buhari government. That was 1984. In November 1985, earlier in that year, I had been detained by the Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO).
“I was abducted at the post office in Ile Ife in April 1985 and detained for days, Arogundade stated.
He added that in November 1985, he travelled to the UK to feature in some activities of the National Union of Students of the UK and was interrogated on his way out. When he returned, he was detained at the airport for an hour before he was allowed to go.
Arogundade believes that his activism as a journalist, including his role as chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Lagos State Council, may have contributed to his continued inclusion on the watchlist.
He noted that many journalists and activists who fought against military rule might have had their names on the watchlist, including journalists such as Abdul Oroh and Edeatan Ojo.
The IPC executive director said he would seek legal advice on whether to press charges against the SSS, noting that his lawyers had earlier written to the agency demanding reasons for his harassment and requesting his removal from the watchlist.
SSS removes Arogundade’s name from watchlist after 40 years
News emerged on Tuesday, May 6, that the SSS had removed Arogundade’s name from its watchlist after four decades.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday by Tobi Adeniyi, legal adviser and chairman of the advocacy committee at IPI Nigeria, IPI president, Muskiliu Mojeed, provided an update on Arogundade’s watchlist status during the 3rd Nigerian Media Leaders’ Summit.
The summit was organised by Journalism Clinic, led by veteran journalist Taiwo Obe, and attended by media owners and top editors.
Mojeed revealed Arogundade’s status on the watchlist while relaying the outcome of IPI Nigeria’s recent engagement with the Director-General of the SSS, Adeola Ajayi.
The IPI leader said Arogundade faced nearly 40 years of persistent harassment and embarrassment, including brief detention by security operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
“IPI Nigeria says it welcomes the decision and commends the SSS for finally removing Arogundade’s name from the watchlist,” Mojeed stated.
He said the SSS’ decision “followed a sustained and intensive campaign by IPI Nigeria to get Arogundade’s name removed from the watchlist.
“The renewed campaign became necessary when Arogundade’s name was not removed despite previous assurance,” Mojeed added.
Putting Arogundade on the watch list for 40 years, a travesty – MRA
Speaking with The ICIR on the development, the Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Edetaen Ojo, described the SSS’ action as a travesty.
According to the media rights advocate, there is no justification whatsoever for him to have been on such a watch list.
He said time would tell if Arogundade had truly been removed from the watchlist because sometime in the past, the SSS said they had removed him from the watch list, only to find out later that he was still there.
“The widespread abuse and lack of transparency that routinely accompany the violation of citizens’ rights have enabled such a possibility. But the greater concern for us as a country is the fact that such measures, which exist ostensibly to ensure national security and combat crime, have been so abused that they are no longer effective tools to address the principal reasons for which they exist,” Ojo stated.
A reporter with the ICIR
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