The Department of States Service (DSS) has denied allegations suggesting that its personnel conducted a raid on the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) headquarters in Abuja. The statement follows claims made by the NLC on Wednesday, which asserted that secret police operatives had invaded their office and whisked away certain documents.
The union reported that the operatives arrived at the Labour House at approximately 8:30 PM.
“The security operatives, some from the Nigeria Police Force, some wearing black tee-shirts presumably from the Department of State Services (DSS), and others on outright mufti swooped on the 10th Floor of the NLC and arrested the security operative on duty and then commandeered him to the second floor where he was asked to produce the keys to the offices.
“When he told them that he had no such keys on him, they broke into the floor and ransacked the bookshop on the 2nd floor, carting away hundreds of books and other publications. The invading troop claimed that they were looking for seditious materials used for the#EndBadGoveranance Protests.
“The Nigeria Labour Congress condemns in its entirety this new low in security operations in Nigeria. The armed security operatives showed no legal document permitting them to invade the premises of the Nigeria Labour Congress in the ungodly hours of the night.
“Even in the dark days of military rule, NLC secretariats were never invaded and ransacked by security agents. Today is indeed a very sad day for our democracy,” said a statement by the NLC’s head of Media and Public Relations, Benson Upah.
The NLC indicated that it could not quickly determine the full extent of items removed from its offices.
Nevertheless, in a statement issued on Thursday, the DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, clarified that its personnel were not involved in the disruption of the labour union’s office.
“Good morning dear friends. Pls kindly note that the Service (DSS) did not carry out any operation at the NLC office in Abuja,” Afunanya said in a terse statement on the agency’s X handle.
