The State Security Service (SSS), also known as the Department of State Services (DSS), has threatened criminal and civil legal action against Peoples Gazette over a report alleging that the agency’s director-general, Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi, was involved in the alleged abduction and forced resignation of the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari.
In a letter dated 5 August and signed by Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN), the counsel to the SSS and its director-general, the newspaper was accused of publishing a “libelous and unfounded” article that portrayed the agency as “an irresponsible and reckless organisation” and its head as a “hatchet man and a lackey” used to carry out political intimidation.
The contentious report, published on 2 August, claimed that Ojulari was forcibly taken and pressured into resigning by Mr. Ajayi and the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, following an alleged directive from a woman identified as Olatimbo Ayinde, described in the report as President Bola Tinubu’s mistress.
The article featured photographs of the SSS director-general, the EFCC chairman, and Ms. Ayinde, which the agency’s lawyer said further demonstrated the intent to defame and malign the image and integrity of both the institution and its leadership.
“Our clients have been grievously maligned and injured in their integrity and character by your baseless and unfounded publication,” the letter reads.
“Since your libelous publication, our clients have been inundated with calls by Nigerians both within and outside the country with so many of them expressing outrage and disappointment in our clients.”
The SSS is demanding that Peoples Gazette immediately retract the story from all its online platforms and issue an unreserved apology using the same platforms through which the original article was published.
The letter warned that failure to comply with the demands within 48 hours would result in both civil and criminal proceedings, including actions under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015.
“As your conduct is actionable per se, just as it is a criminal offence under the provisions of Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act,” the lawyer wrote, adding that the agency would proceed with legal action “without further reference” to the publication.
Peoples Gazette has yet to issue a public response to the SSS’s demands at the time of this report.
(Premium Times)