Nigeria: Security agents raid newsstands, seize publications and arrest vendor
On 10 February 2005, agents of the State Security Service (SSS), Nigeria's intelligence agency, raided newsstands on Old Market Road, the main distribution centre for the city of Onitsha, in Anambra State. The SSS agents confiscated large quantities of "The News", "The Source" and "The Week" magazines, as well as copies of "Hallmark" newspaper. They also arrested a newspaper distributor, Ikechukwu Obisi, and took him to an unknown location. The SSS officials, who were from Awka, the state capital, took the action on the grounds that the news vendors were distributing publications carrying stories about the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).
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ACTION ALERT - NIGERIA
15 February 2005
Security agents raid newsstands, seize publications and arrest vendor
SOURCE: Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Lagos
(MRA/IFEX) - On 10 February 2005, agents of the State Security Service (SSS), Nigeria's intelligence agency, raided newsstands on Old Market Road, the main distribution centre for the city of Onitsha, in Anambra State. The SSS agents confiscated large quantities of "The News", "The Source" and "The Week" magazines, as well as copies of "Hallmark" newspaper. They also arrested a newspaper distributor, Ikechukwu Obisi, and took him to an unknown location. The SSS officials, who were from Awka, the state capital, took the action on the grounds that the news vendors were distributing publications carrying stories about the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).
The security agents' actions led to a demonstration by members of the Newspaper Distributors and Agents Association, who took to the streets in Onitsha to protest the confiscation of the magazines and newspapers and the arrest of their member. The newspaper vendors refused to distribute newspapers in protest over the "incessant arrest, intimidation and extortion of their members by men of the State Security Service (SSS) in Anambra State."
They carried placards with various inscriptions, including: "SSS, allow us to carry out our legitimate business", "SSS, we are not publishers of newspapers and magazines, we sell, so leave us alone", "SSS, stop intimidation, arrest and extortion of our members," and "when did selling of newspapers and magazines become an offence in Nigeria?"
A lawyer for the newspaper distributors, Obele Chuka Obele, has also petitioned the SSS director in Awka in protest over the security agents' actions. In the petition, Obele said, "It was painful that, apart from constituting an utter gross violation of the right of the distributors, an arm of the National Security Agencies, which has no power under the National Security Agencies Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 to detain Mr. Obisi or seize his properties, has suddenly acquired the toga of its predecessor, the notorious and dreaded National Security Organisation, NSO". He added that, "We do not want to believe that our land is about to witness a resurgence of the Abacha-era security service activities, when law abiding citizens were harassed and hounded into unlawful custody."
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Send appeals to authorities
- calling for Obisi's release
- requesting that the magazines and newspapers confiscated from newsstands be returned to the vendors
- demanding that the vendors be compensated for the losses they incurred as a result of the security agents' illegal actions
APPEALS TO:
Sunday Ehindero
Inspector General of Police
Force Headquarters
Louis Edet House
Shehu Shagari Way
Area 11 Garki, Abuja, Nigeria
Tel: +234 9 234 0633 / 0422
Fax: +234 9 234 0422
Chief Akinlolu Olujimi, SAN
Hon. Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice
Federal Secretariat Complex
Garki, Abuja, Nigeria
Tel: +234 9 523 5194
Fax: +234 9 523 5208
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
For further information, contact Ayode Longe, Media Rights Agenda, 10 Agboola Aina Street, off Amore Street, Ikeja, P.O. Box 52113, Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria, tel: +234 1 493 6033, fax: +234 1 493 0831, e-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.mediarightsagenda.org
The information contained in this action alert is the sole responsibility of MRA. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit MRA.
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