DSS Delists Arogundade After 40 Years on Watchlist

After nearly four decades of being flagged by security agencies, Mr. Lanre Arogundade has finally been removed from the Department of State Security’s (DSS) watchlist.

Arogundade, who is the Executive Director of the International Press Centre (IPC), was delisted following a sustained campaign led by the Nigerian chapter of the International Press Institute (IPI).

The announcement was made on Tuesday in Abeokuta by IPI Nigeria President, Mr. Musikilu Mojeed, during the 3rd Nigerian Media Leaders’ Summit, organized by the Journalism Clinic and attended by top media executives and editors.

According to Mojeed, the DSS Director-General, Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi, disclosed the removal during a recent meeting with IPI Nigeria. The institute had intensified advocacy after earlier promises to clear Arogundade’s name yielded no action.

“For almost 40 years, Lanre Arogundade faced repeated harassment, including being briefly detained at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos,” Mojeed recalled.

The IPI welcomed the DSS’s move and praised the agency for finally doing the right thing.

Tobi Soniyi, the legal adviser and head of IPI Nigeria’s advocacy committee, said media leaders at the summit welcomed the news with applause. A visibly relieved Arogundade, who was present, thanked IPI Nigeria and his family for their unwavering support.

Arogundade’s ordeal began in the 1980s when he served as president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) during the military regime—an era notorious for cracking down on dissent.

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