The Department of State Services has addressed concerns surrounding its visit to the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project’s Abuja office on Monday.
According to The PUNCH, in a statement released on Tuesday, the DSS clarified that their officers’ presence at SERAP’s office was part of a routine investigation and not an aggressive raid as some reports suggested.
The DSS described the characterization of their actions as harassment and intimidation as inaccurate.
The statement said, “The Department of State Services has been inundated with multiple enquiries on its alleged unlawful invasion of SERAP offices in Abuja and Lagos. This narrative is inaccurate and misleading in its intent. For the records, a team of two unarmed Service operatives were lawfully detailed on a routine investigation to the SERAP office in Abuja, which has sadly been skewed and misinterpreted as unlawful, harassment, and intimidation of SERAP officials.”
The DSS further emphasized that such official inquiries and interactions are standard procedure and do not constitute a raid or illegal action.
They urged the public to disregard the misleading accounts and assured their commitment to professionalism in fulfilling their mandate.
The statement concluded, “While it assures of in-depth investigation of these malicious contents, it sues for citizens’ participation in national security management. The DSS, therefore, urges the public to disregard these false narratives as it restates its commitment to utmost professionalism in the discharge of its core mandate.”
In response, SERAP has called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and end what they describe as intimidation and harassment by the DSS.
SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, expressed their condemnation of the incident, stating, “We condemn the invasion of our Abuja office today by Nigeria’s Department of State Services. The Tinubu administration must immediately direct the DSS to end the intimidation and harassment of SERAP and our staff members.”
SERAP’s statement further asserted, “The invasion of SERAP’s office by the DSS and the harassment and intimidation of our staff members is a brutal assault on the entire human rights community in the country. The escalating crackdown on human rights, and harassment and intimidation of NGOs and human rights defenders that have shown astonishing courage in their human rights work hurt those most in need, undermine access of Nigerian victims of human rights violations and abuses to justice, and contribute to a culture of impunity of perpetrators.”
The organization highlighted its concern over the increasing restrictions on civic space and the perceived assault on human rights defenders.
SERAP demanded that President Tinubu urgently instruct appropriate authorities to investigate the incident thoroughly and hold those responsible accountable.
They emphasized that Nigerian authorities must allow SERAP to operate freely in accordance with the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Nigeria is a state party.
