Centre for Advancement of Peace, Security and Social Development (CAPSSD) has cautioned Nigerians over leakage of classified information that could threaten national security.
Its Executive Director, Mustapha Abubakar Funtua, in a statement, observed that the high turnover of sensational and promotional articles is a ploy to cause disaffection among heads of security agencies.
The group warned that the trend if not quickly checked, would not only jeopardise security, but also set officers and units they represent for unnecessary enmity and rivalry.
He said: “Our attention has been drawn to series of highly sensational and promotional articles published in national dailies recently, and as a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) that seeks to monitor and advocate effective peace building and sustainable social development in the country, it has become imperative to raise the alarm over what we see as deliberate attempts to cause disaffection and endanger the synergy among security chiefs and their foot soldiers across the country.
“We are appalled with the media coverage of sensitive personnel and units in our security architecture.”
The perpetrators of this act are intentional in causing disaffection among the security chiefs, but have been hiding under the banner of promoting their targets. This is dangerous for our fragile security situation and must not be allowed to go unchecked.”
The CSO equally drew attention of Nigerians to the fact that intelligence gathering and security operations are private and secret undertakings. Deliberately exposing the names of serving officers in missions and publishing details of their actions is tantamount with leaking classified information to the enemy, it stated.
CAPSSD added: “It has become necessary for the Army, police and other security agencies to tighten their grip over sensitive information, as many people are now abusing the privileges that come with free flow of information under the Freedom of Information Act. Writing promotional articles about serving officers should, therefore, be considered as leakage of classified information and tagged treasonable.”
The group called on the media to painstakingly vet information before publication.
