A Rights Group, Centre for Advancement of Peace, Security and Social Development (CAPSSD) reportedly said the spate of “highly sensational and promotional articles” published in national dailies recently about top security officers in the country was a deliberate ploy to cause disaffection amongst leaders of various security agencies.
It was reported that, the CSO, in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Mustapha Funtua, cautioned that the trend, if not quickly checked, will not only jeopardise the security but also set the officers and the units they represented against each other and the enemy.
The statement reads,
“We are appalled with the media coverage of sensitive personnel and units in our security architecture. The perpetrators of this act are intentional in causing disaffection amongst the security chiefs but have been hiding under the banner of promoting their targets. This is dangerous for our fragile security situation and must not be allowed to go unchecked.”
The CSO equally drew the attention of Nigerians to the fact that intelligence gathering and security operations are private and secret undertakings.
“Deliberately exposing the names of serving officers in missions and publishing details of their actions is tantamount with leaking classified information to the enemy. It has become necessary for the Army, the Police and other security agencies to tighten their grip over sensitive information as many people are now abusing the privilege that comes with free flow of information under the Freedom of Information Act. Writing promotional articles about serving officers should, therefore, be considered as leakage of classified information and tagged treasonable”, the statement added.
The CSO further called on the media to vet the information published through their platforms well before allowing it to reach the public and enjoined the media to desist from creating the impression that only few persons or security agencies are working since security was a team work and couldn’t be effectively prosecuted by just one team or group of persons.