The State Security Service, SSS, has denied calling for tenure elongation for President Muhammadu Buhari, describing a report by SarahaReporters as fake and misleading.
In a statement on Thursday by the SSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, the Service disassociated itself from the publication, stressing that the information is false and “obviously fabricated to malign it and mislead the populace”.
“It is curious that the session which was applauded and described as innovative by participants including credible Civil Society groups would be misrepresented by SaharaReporters that was neither invited to nor participated in the exercise.
“The Online paper, in its characteristic gutter journalism, had initially claimed that participants at the session were harassed.
“When the fake news did not garner the expected attention, it resorted to another gimmick aimed at dragging the Service into an unnecessary term elongation debate,” the statement noted.
The SSS, therefore, aligned itself with the statement by the Presidency reiterating its definite stance to hand over power to a new president on 29th May 2023.
“[Buhari] has vindicated the Service and countered the deliberate effort by SaharaReporters to create confusion.
“While the Service, in the circumstance, aligns with the Presidency, it urges the public to disregard the lies of SaharaReporters and its promoter whose activities are usually antithetical to a decorous environment.
“It is common knowledge that SaharaReporters is mischievously desperate and takes delight in promoting negative narratives against Government and its officials.
“The paper has not only remained biased and sensational in its reportage, it has sustained seditious attacks against security institutions and particularly the Service which may not hesitate to seek legal redress in the face of continued misrepresentation,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the SSS advised politicians and highly placed personalities to desist from making unguarded statements capable of derailing efforts to deepen the country’s democracy as well as mobilise citizens for national unity and stability.
