The Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura has asked Olalekan Adetayo, state house correspondent of The Punch newspaper, to return to the presidential villa in Abuja.
Adetayo was expelled over a story on President Muhammadu Buhari’s health, published by the newspaper on Sunday.
The expulsion attracted criticisms, with many accusing the current administration of attempting to clamp down on the press.
But in a letter to the chairman of Aso Villa correspondents’ chapel on Monday night, Garba Shehu, senior special assistant on media and publicity to the president, promised that the issue will be fully resolved in due course.
“We just got a clearance from Malam Lawal Daura, the DG SSS to recall Lekan to the Villa,” he said.
“Please come along with him tomorrow. The special adviser on media, Femi Adesina and I will resolve the issues.
“Please advise the correspondents and the rest of your members to handle this with maturity. It will not help anyone to start daring the security. Lekan should be assured that he is safe. We will straighten out everything.”
This is not the first time a correspondent has been expelled from the villa on similar circumstances.
Gordon Obua, the chief security officer (CSO) of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, now late, had also expelled Musa Ubale, a correspondent of German Radio, Deutsche Welle, from the villa back in 2015.
It would be recalled that the Punch reporter was expelled on Monday and the Special Assistant to the President on Media has denied knowledge of the expulsion.
In a series of tweets, Adesina said his principal is committed to press freedom and an amicable solution would be found to the matter.
He said the Buhari administration would not muzzle the media in anyway.
“We weren’t consulted in the media office by the CSO before he expelled The PUNCH reporter. President Buhari is committed to press freedom,” Adesina tweeted.
“An amicable solution would be found to The Punch reporter matter. President Buhari does not intend to muzzle the media in any way.”
-TheCable