DSS threatens to sue AIT, Channels over Lagos Assembly crisis coverage

Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS), has warned it will sue two major TV stations over their coverage of the Lagos State Assembly crisis.

The DSS claims that Africa Independent Television and Channels Television made false and damaging reports about its role in events at the Assembly on February 17. Through its lawyer, Adedeji Adedipe, the DSS says it was only helping other security forces and didn’t do anything wrong.

The agency wants both TV stations to take back their reports and say sorry on air for three days straight. If they don’t do this within a week, the DSS says it will take them to court under Nigeria’s cybercrime laws.

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“Your publication and/or broadcast has greatly injured the character of our client and tarnished and lowered its esteemed image in the eyes of the public,” the DSS’s lawyer wrote in a letter dated February 17. The agency claims the TV stations didn’t follow proper journalism rules by getting both sides of the story.

The stations must publish their apology five times daily for three days on all their channels, including social media. If they don’t comply within seven days, the DSS threatens to pursue both civil and criminal charges under the recently updated Cybercrimes Act.