Civil society condemns DSS’ brutality of journalists in Osun, issues 14-day ultimatum to apologize

A group, Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS) has strongly condemned the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Osun state over Monday’s alleged brutality of two journalists; Mr. Timothy Agbor (The Point Newspaper) and Toba Adedeji (Osun Defender Newspaper).

The group condemned the harassment of the journalists who were discharging their constitutional duty by covering a protest by the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees to the State House of Assembly, describing the security agents’ action as barbaric and ungodly.

It, however, threatened to sue the men of the Department of State Service (DSS) in the Court of competent jurisdiction if they failed to tender a public apology to the men of pen profession, particularly, the affected law abiding journalists within fourteen (14) days of committing dastard act, describing the development as bad omen for the practitioners in the fourth estate of the realm.

 the protesters along Osogbo-Gbongan Road on their way to the House of Assembly.
A female operative of the DSS, dressed in a black polo shirt, allegedly accosted Agbor and demanded to know his mission. The journalist was said to have told the lady that he was a journalist, but the lady got angry when Agbor also sort for the identity of the operative.

The group has, however, described the action of the security agents as evil, satanic, inhuman, undemocratic, unconstitutional, illegal, and unacceptable and crime against God and humanity, advocating for the protection of media practitioners’ right and media practitioners in Nigeria, explaining that the media practitioners who were the voice of the voiceless would not be allowed to be subjected to an undue intimidation in the course of carrying out their legitimate duties for the nation.

In a press statement signed by the CSCEOS’ Chairman, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman and made available to journalists on Tuesday, the group disclosed that it received the news of the unjust brutality of two journalists by the security agents with shock as they also threatened to gun them down for no just offence than going about their legitimate duty.

Sulaiman who called on the authority of the State Security Service to commence immediate investigation into the matter by fishing out its men that perpetrated the evil act with appropriate punishment so as to serve as deterrents to other men of the agency who were not civil in carrying out their official duties, recalling that men of the profession, including Mr. Dele Giwa, Balguda Khalto and host of others had lost their lives through the overzealousness of the security agents in the country, adding that this dastard act should not be allowed to sweep under the carpet.

He also called for the immediate removal of the state Director of the DSS, Ike Madunagwu, maintaining that his men action shown that they were enemies of current democratic experiment being enjoyed in the land, adding that genuine rights activist and democrat would not allow any uncivilized security agent to return the any segment of the country back to the dark days of Military junta.