The Department of State Services (DSS) appears to have ended its long-standing harassment and detention of the Executive Director of the International Press Centre, Mr Lanre Arogundade, as the security agency disclosed that it had removed his name from its watchlist.

Tobi Soniyi, legal adviser/chairman of the Advocacy Committee, signed a statement disclosing this. He attributed the development to the President of the Nigerian chapter of the International Press Institute (IPI), Mr Muskiliu Mojeed.

According to the statement, Mr Muskiliu announced the removal of Mr Arogundade’s name from the DSS watchlist during the 3rd Nigerian Media Leaders’ Summit convened by Journalism Clinic led by veteran journalist Taiwo Obe with media owners and top editors in attendance in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The statement partly reads that Mr. Mojeed said the Director-General of the DSS, Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi, informed IPI Nigeria about the development during a recent engagement with the service.

“The DSS decision followed a sustained and intensive campaign by IPI Nigeria to get Mr Arogundade’s name removed from the watchlist. The renewed campaign became necessary when Mr Arogundade’s name was not removed despite previous assurance.

“For about forty years, Mr Arogundade was subjected to persistent harassment and embarrassment, including brief detention by security operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

“IPI Nigeria says it welcomes the decision and commends the DSS for finally removing Mr Arogundade’s name from the watchlist.

“Media executives present at the Abeokuta summit applauded the announcement, while Mr Arogundade, who was also among them, expressed his gratitude and that of his family to IPI Nigeria for the commendable effort.”

Mr Arogundade, who is a veteran journalist and the former chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Lagos chapter, was put on the DSS watchlist between 1984 and 1985, during the military regime, when he was the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

In 2022, the DSS claimed to have removed his name from the list after he faced a minor arrest by their operatives at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

However, in 2024, the same incident reoccurred when Mr Lanre Arogundade was on his way out of the country to attend an international conference hosted by the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) and the African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX) in Germany.

Mr. Arogundade expressed his dissatisfaction with the arrest, which he described as an “embarrassment to be singled out among three colleagues travelling for the same purpose and booked on the same flight.”

As a result, the developments prompted reactions from press freedom advocates and media organisations to lament the incident in different solidarity statements, demanding prompt action in response to what they perceived as a calculated attempt to violate his fundamental right to movement.