If it was not the Executive Director of the International Press Centre (IPC), Lanre Arogundade that shared the post of his being detained by men of the state security service at the International Airport last Thursday of Facebook, I would have doubted the report.
I had to take a second look to be sure that it was not a case of someone hacking his account and making a false claim which could be denied later. I just couldn’t imagine why the journalist and human rights activist would be detained like back in the days of the military.
Despite some cases of uniformed men still behaving as if they do not know the rights and privileges of every citizen in a democratic dispensation, I thought we had gone past that era when journalists, activists, civil society leaders and any known persons like Arogundade need to be worried about being questioned unnecessarily when they are flying out or returning to the country.
I had thought that state security operatives, immigration and other security operatives at the airports would have known better that they can’t get away with detaining people like Arogundade unjustly.
That he had tolerated them harassing him for long does not mean he does not know his rights, but he gave them enough benefit of the doubt until they went beyond the limits of tolerance last Thursday and he had to expose them for what they really are.
Had he complained earlier, he might have been accused of not wanting to subject himself to whatever security checks others are being subjected to just because of his status. But as the former student’s union leader explained, the security officers just seem to take pleasure in singling out people like him for harassment and not expecting to be challenged.
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Why would they be asking him who he is, where he is coming from, when he travelled out of the country and other not-sure-of-what to call it kinds of questions when necessary detailed are contained in the passport and flight documents?
If the state security officers are as smart as they claim and understand what it means to be a security officer in an intelligence-driven age, they should have enough information on the movements of people like Arogundade without asking them the kinds of questions they ask.
They knew when he flew out and what he went for was all over the internet while he was in the Gambia. The explanation that his detention was a case of mistaken identity is very laughable. Security agencies in the country are usually not ashamed of coming up with spurious reasons when it’s clear they acted beyond the limits of the law.
Arogundade is a well-known person and should not have been mistaken for anyone by any security official that knows his or her job. The face-saving excuse amidst instant wide condemnations is unacceptable. They need to let us know who the Arogundade look alike is that he was mistaken for.
They cannot just come up with an untenable excuse and expect that the embarrassing incident will be overlooked. Good enough, Arogundade has indicated that he will seek legal redress on the incident to put an end to any further harassment.
Many other Nigerians who do not have the clout Arogundade has are regularly harassed at the airports and other places and there is the need to call the security agents to order.
No one is asking them not to do their jobs, but they must not go about it in a way that the criminals they should be after walk past them, while law-abiding citizens are hounded at will.
The federal government needs as much goodwill it can get and the security agents should avoid incidents that can further dent the human rights credentials of the Buhari’s administration.
