July 31, 2008
Overzealous security agents at the Aso Rock barred their fangs on 3 journalists covering the State House for daring to report an embarrassing insubordination from a state security operative against Yar’adua. The media accreditation of the State House correspondents of three national newspapers, Daniel Idonor (Daily Champion), Ben Agande (Vanguard) and Abdulfattah Olajide (Daily Trust) has been withdrawn.
On Monday the three journalists filed stories detailing accounts of the open display of insubordination against Yar’adua exhibited by one of his security details named Richard.
Richard had prevented journalists from interviewing Yar’adua and his guest, the President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, despite YarʼAduaʼs order that the press be allowed to interview his guest.
Yar’adua who was reportedly not pleased that journalists were being stopped from interviewing his guest personally, he beckoned on the reporters to come forward and conduct the interviews.
The account of the incident, which was carried and aired in the major media in the Nigeria, obviously irked Richard who has been in the habit of embarrassing and harassing state house correspondents and photojournalists since his days as a member of Obasanjo’s security detail.
Mr Richard, who is currently the acting Chief Detail to Yar’adua, was dismissed from the Nigerian Army over his involvement in a coup against former military dictator, Sani Abacha.
He served his jail term with the former president, who kept him in his security team after being sworn into office in 1999. Described as “harsh and intolerant”, Mr. Richard is despised by subordinates in the security detail. After Obasanjo granted him a presidential pardon, he was employed by the state security service (SSS) as an operative
YarʼAduaʼs Special Adviser on Media, Olusegun Adeniyi, confirmed that the accreditation for the 3 reporters was removed because of the order given by the Chief Security Officer to the President (CSO) to do so.
On Monday the three journalists filed stories detailing accounts of the open display of insubordination against Yar’adua exhibited by one of his security details named Richard.
Richard had prevented journalists from interviewing Yar’adua and his guest, the President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, despite YarʼAduaʼs order that the press be allowed to interview his guest.
Yar’adua who was reportedly not pleased that journalists were being stopped from interviewing his guest personally, he beckoned on the reporters to come forward and conduct the interviews.
The account of the incident, which was carried and aired in the major media in the Nigeria, obviously irked Richard who has been in the habit of embarrassing and harassing state house correspondents and photojournalists since his days as a member of Obasanjo’s security detail.
Mr Richard, who is currently the acting Chief Detail to Yar’adua, was dismissed from the Nigerian Army over his involvement in a coup against former military dictator, Sani Abacha.
He served his jail term with the former president, who kept him in his security team after being sworn into office in 1999. Described as “harsh and intolerant”, Mr. Richard is despised by subordinates in the security detail. After Obasanjo granted him a presidential pardon, he was employed by the state security service (SSS) as an operative
YarʼAduaʼs Special Adviser on Media, Olusegun Adeniyi, confirmed that the accreditation for the 3 reporters was removed because of the order given by the Chief Security Officer to the President (CSO) to do so.
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