CSO, expels punch reporter from presidency villa

The chief security officer, (CSO), to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abubakar Bashir has expelled the
Punch correspondent, Mr. Lekan Adetayo,
assigned  to cover the presidential villa, Abuja, as at yesterday. Correspondent lekan was driven out of the villa, due to the fact that, he wrote a story about the health state of president Buhari, which was seen as injurious to the presidency. But the
Presidency has not said anything concerning the action
of the president’s CSO.
The Punch had, on
Sunday, published a story with a headline,
‘Fresh anxiety in Aso Rock over Buhari’s health’.
Adetayo had however,
yesterday been questioned over the story. It was formally learnt that the CSO had earlier issued
a threat to the expelledPunch correspondent
January this year after an incident of accidental
discharge from a security operative which injured
a female staff of the presidential villa.

His accreditation card was thereafter
seized.
No official reason has been given by the
Presidency for expulsion of the
Punchcorrespondent.
The Special Adviser to the
President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina,
condemned the action, insisting that President
Buhari was not prepared to muzzle the Nigerian
media. He said his office was never consulted by
the CSO before such action against the reporter
was taken.
He thereby promised that,
“An amicable solution would be found to The
Punch reporter matter.
As at late last night, Lawal Daura, Director General of
the DSS, recalled Adetayo to the
Villa. The Senior
Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the
President, Mallam Garba Shehu, wrote a memo to the chairman of the correspondents chapel in the villa, he said Lawal
had ordered that Adetayo be allowed back to his
Work.