The Department of State Service (DSS) has threatened legal action against DAAR Communications Plc, owners of African Independent Television (AIT), and Channels Television, for broadcasting news reports that its operatives invaded the Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday.
In a letter dated February 17, 2025, the DSS, through its lawyer, Chief Ayodeji Adedipe, SAN, demanded a retraction of the story and apologies from both television stations, stressing that the stories portrayed the Service in bad light.
Entitled “False, Defamatory andalicious Publication Concerning the State Security Service (aka DSS) Regarding Their Presence at the Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday February 17, 2025,” the Secret Service demanded retraction of the story and apology.
Should the media houses fail to, within seven days of the receipt of their letter, run apologies in their respective news channels five times a day for three days running, the DSS would be faced with no option than to seek redress in court.
According to counsel, even when it was clear that fears were rife that hoodlums could attack the Lagos lawmakers, and the Clerk of the Assembly consequently invited the DSS and police to help secure the Assembly, the media houses still went ahead to run reports that their operatives invaded the Assembly in Gestapo-style.
Recall that the DSS had in October 2024 withdrawn charges against an online newspaper, OrderPaper, and nine of its staff members, after they publicly apologised for publishing false information about the DSS invading the National Assembly complex over a purported plot to remove Senate President Godswill Akpabio from office.
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