How Governor Ordered DSS To Arrest Journalist For Reporting Bandits Attack On His Convoy
The incident reportedly occurred on Tuesday when Governor Bago and his team were returning from the Egede community in Zone C after assessing projects executed under his administration.
Mustapha Bina, a Niger State-based journalist working with People’s Daily Newspaper, was picked and detained by the Department of State Services, following his report on an alleged bandits attack on the motorcade of Governor Umaru Bago during his project tour to Mashegu Local Government Area.
The incident reportedly occurred on Tuesday when Governor Bago and his team were returning from the Egede community in Zone C after assessing projects executed under his administration.
According to the report, the attackers allegedly opened fire, prompting swift retaliation by the governor’s well-armed security team.
“Several bandits were neutralised, while others fled into the bush after being overpowered,” a source claimed in the report.
According to the report, some vehicles in the convoy, including a Hilux and a bulletproof vehicle of the Counter-Terrorism Unit, were reportedly damaged.
Daily Nigerian gathered that after the report was aired on the Minna-based radio station, Prestige FM, where Bina freelances, the operatives of the State Security Service, SSS, arrested and detained the reporter allegedly on the orders of the governor.
An insider source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it took the intervention of the state NUJ chairman, Abu Nmodu, and other stakeholders who prevailed on the governor before the journalist was granted bail.
“Mr Bina was invited to the SSS office in Minna for questioning over the report aired on Prestige FM about the bandit attack on the governor’s convoy. The governor really felt embarrassed that the issue was out.
“He (Bina) was there for hours. It took severe pleas from the state NUJ and other stakeholders before the journalist was granted bail.
“They told him the arrest of the journalist would further escalate the matter,” the source said.
“It is very unfortunate that the civic space is becoming stifled, and the environment hasn’t been very conducive for journalists, especially under the current administration,” the source added.
Although the chief press secretary to the governor, Bologi Ibrahim, and state commissioner for Information, Binta Mamman, swiftly issued a statement debunking the incident, Bago reportedly felt embarrassed and upset for the attack to have been leaked to the media.
