Reporters assigned to cover the Department of State Service (DSS) were in utter shock and bewilderment when they were denied access into the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
The journalists were not allowed to cover a press briefing scheduled for 4 p.m. where the agency presented detained Ekiti State lawmaker, Afolabi Akanni, who was rumoured to have died while in DSS detention.
Accusations of gagging the media and obstruction of the people’s right to know were bandied about by several frustrated journalists
According to reports, DSS operatives at the main entrance had a list of certain media groups, adding that only reporters from those media on the list were allowed to enter for the press briefing while other reporters were sent away.
“When some of us who were denied access asked the reason behind our exclusion, the [DSS] operatives at the main gate informed us that they were carrying out the instruction given to them from above,” said one of the reporters.
Another affected journalist said
“I have been covering the SSS for almost ten years now for my [news] organization, only to be screened out today and nobody could tell us anything,” He added: “I wonder what criteria they used to choose those who were allowed to go in. We are going to resist this draconian action, targeted at suppressing the media. There are no fake journalists among all of us covering this beat, so I can’t just understand what is going on.”
The reporters were visibly frustrated by the unfair behaviour of the DSS this was only heightened with the inability of the DSS to put together an effective media team to provide information to the media and public on the agency’s activities.
It is now suspected by a lot of journalists that a heightened sense of secrecy now blankets the DSS and they have also accused the DSS of eroding the obligation of the mass media to perform its statutory role of upholding, including upholding the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people.
Since coming on board as the Director of the DSS, Lawal Daura has refused to appoint an official spokesperson for the agency and this has made getting sufficient and quality information on the activities of the DSS very difficult indeed.