{"id":1200,"date":"2018-08-20T11:49:19","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T10:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=1200"},"modified":"2019-08-26T17:27:35","modified_gmt":"2019-08-26T16:27:35","slug":"is-the-leaked-igp-interim-report-to-the-acting-president-classified-information-false","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/is-the-leaked-igp-interim-report-to-the-acting-president-classified-information-false\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Leaked IGP Interim Report to the Acting President \u2018Classified Information\u2019? #FALSE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nAns: There is no iota of truth in this! Classified documents are usually marked as such, which the leaked document does not show.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the 14th of August 2018, a Premium Times journalist, Samuel Ogundipe, was detained as a result of an article<\/a> published a week earlier.<\/p>\n

Defending the actions of the law enforcement agency, Jimoh Moshood, Nigeria\u2019s Police Public Relations Officer, said on Thursday<\/a> that the case is that of unlawful access to and publication of classified documents.<\/p>\n

He passed this remark while addressing protesters who demanded for the release of the detained journalist at the Police Headquarters, Abuja.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are saying is that even the Freedom of Information Act is limited when it comes to documents that are classified,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if you have access to such a document, it is wrong; and that is the case we are investigating. The case the police department is investigating with respect to Samuel Ogundipe is that of theft and unjustified access to documents that are restricted and classified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moshood added: \u201cThis document does not fall under what the Freedom of Information Act permits a journalist to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS EXPLAINED<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Nigeria\u2019s Official Secrets Act of 1962<\/a>, \u201cclassified matter means any information or thing which, under any system of security classification, from time to time, in use by or by any branch of the government, is not to be disclosed to the public and of which the disclosure to the public would be prejudicial to the security of Nigeria\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Act, in its very first section, also states as an offence transmitting \u201cany classified matter\u201d to an unauthorised person or obtaining, reproducing or retaining \u201cany classified matter which he is not authorized on behalf of the government to obtain, reproduce or retain\u201d.<\/p>\n

Documents are classified because of reasonable likelihood to cause some level of damage to national security if there is unauthorised disclosure, and the classifier must be ready to justify the classification upon request.<\/p>\n

HOW DOES A CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT LOOK?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Official Secrets Act of 1962<\/a> does not proceed to lay down a fundamental system of security classification nor stipulate how a classified document can be physically recognised. There are however general standards that may be applied by inference.<\/p>\n

The 2001 Guide to Marking Documents<\/a> of the U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency says marking classified documents has six purposes: to alert the holder that the item requires protection, advise the holder of the level of protection, show what is classified and what is not, show how long the information requires protection, give information about the origin of the classification, and provide warnings about any special security requirements.<\/p>\n

It further provides that \u201cthere are three essential markings required on all information classified as national security information\u2026 [and they] will appear on the face of each classified document.\u201d
\nThey are a. Classification Line (at the top and bottom, usually in red ink); b. Portion Marking; and c. Classification Block which consists of the identity of the original classification authority (OCA), agency and office of origin, declassification instructions, and reason for classification.<\/p>\n

According to the United Kingdom Government Protective Marking Scheme, documents may be classified as top secret, secret or official.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Page 1 of a former classified document: the National Security Directive 54<\/a>, a 2009 presidential directive on federal cybersecurity (released June 5, 2014). (U) stands for \u2018unclassified\u2019.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

A look at former secret documents<\/a> released under the Freedom of Information Act reveals these markings to be present. (S) represents secret, (TS) represents top secret, (C) represents confidential, (U) represents unclassified, and so on.<\/p>\n

IGP LETTER TO ACTING PRESIDENT HAS NO MARKINGS<\/strong><\/p>\n

A leaked copy<\/a> of the interim investigation report sent to the Acting President by the Inspector General of Police evidently has none of the aforementioned markings that suggest it to contain classified information. It is, by all indications, a typical letter.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Page 1 of the IGP letter to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\nIf it is argued that the document is indeed classified, then reference may be made to Section 1(3)(a) of the Official Secrets Act which provides possible defences to the offence of transmitting or reproducing classified information.<\/p>\n

It states: \u201cIn proceedings for an offence under subsection (1) of this section relating to any classified matter, it shall be a defence to prove that when the accused transmitted, obtained, reproduced or retained the matter, as the case may be, he did not know and could not reasonably have been expected to believe that it was classified matter.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

Therefore, in this case where Premium Times journalist, Samuel Ogundipe, is alleged to have unlawfully published classified information, it is the case that he could not have known as the document itself does not claim to be classified.<\/p>\n

AND WHAT IF IT IS CLASSIFIED? \u2026 A GLANCE AT THE UNITED STATES<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Donald Trump became president of the United States, he wanted reporters who publish classified documents arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). But according to this Forbes article<\/a> by Anders Corr, publisher of the Journal of Political Risk: \u201cThis would be a break from past enforcement policies and would be an increase in the power of government relative to the free press in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also wrote: \u201cWhile it may technically be illegal to publish classified material, the Federal Government has generally not enforced laws against such publication by legitimate journalists when that classified material leaks from government sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

His view was supported<\/a> by Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black\u2014and the court generally\u2014in the 1971 case of New York Times and Washington Post<\/em> where it was ruled that the Nixon administration could not prevent the press from publishing leaked, classified Vietnam War documents.<\/p>\n

James Comey, Director of FBI, was asked in 2017, and he replied that the matter was \u201cprobably beyond my ken\u201d. But Jonathan Peters, a media law professor at the University of Kansas has said<\/a>, for prosecution to be valid, the publication under scrutiny would have to result in \u201cdirect, immediate and irreparable damage\u201d to the safety or interest of the state. Leaking classified information is, therefore, not automatically a crime in itself.<\/p>\n

Finally, also instructive is that in 2013, the U.S. Justice Department said<\/a> it was not going to bring charges against Julian Assnage, WikiLeaks founder, for publishing classified documents because \u201cgovernment lawyers said they could not do so without also prosecuting U.S. news organizations and journalists.\u201d<\/p>\n

POLICE CHARGE HAS NO MENTION OF \u2018CLASSIFIED INFORMATION\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moreover, the charge filed by the Police against Ogundipe, released on Thursday<\/a> by Premium Times, has also partly belied Police PRO Moshood\u2019s claims. The nature of the crime committed, according to the document, is \u201ccriminal trespass, theft in dwelling house, and having in possession of police interim investigation report\u201d.<\/p>\n

While it claims that the document was stored \u201cin the confidential registry of the State House, Federal Capital Territory\u201d, the charge does not expressly categorise the document as classified.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Police charge\u00a0against Samuel Ogundipe<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\nCONCLUSION<\/strong><\/p>\n

From all indications, it is FALSE<\/strong> that the IGP Interim Report sent to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo was classified information. Unlike other classified documents, it was not marked with necessary classifiers. And if it is truly classified, then not only does Ogundipe have a defence under the Official Secrets Act, it might be rash for the government to take legal action on that basis alone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 Copyright DUBAWA 2018. This factcheck was written by Kunle Adebajo (International Centre for Investigative Reporting). View the original piece on their website: https:\/\/www.icirnigeria.org\/fact-check-is-the-igp-interim-report-to-acting-president-classified-information\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ans: There is no iota of truth in this! Classified documents are usually marked as such, which the leaked document does not show. On the 14th of August 2018, a Premium Times journalist, Samuel Ogundipe, was detained as a result of an article published a week earlier. Defending the actions of the law enforcement agency, Jimoh Moshood, Nigeria\u2019s Police Public Relations Officer, said on Thursday that the case is that of unlawful access to and publication of classified documents. He passed this remark while addressing protesters who demanded for the release of the detained journalist at the Police Headquarters, Abuja. \u201cWhat we are saying is that even the Freedom of Information Act is limited when it comes to documents that are classified,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if you have access to such a document, it is wrong; and that is the case we are investigating. The case the police department is investigating with respect to Samuel Ogundipe is that of theft and unjustified access to documents that are restricted and classified.\u201d Moshood added: \u201cThis document does not fall under what the Freedom of Information Act permits a journalist to have.\u201d CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS EXPLAINED According to Nigeria\u2019s Official Secrets Act of 1962, \u201cclassified matter means any information or thing which, under any system of security classification, from time to time, in use by or by any branch of the government, is not to be disclosed to the public and of which the disclosure to the public would be prejudicial to the security of Nigeria\u201d. The Act, in its very first section, also states as an offence transmitting \u201cany classified matter\u201d to an unauthorised person or obtaining, reproducing or retaining \u201cany classified matter which he is not authorized on behalf of the government to obtain, reproduce or retain\u201d. Documents are classified because of reasonable likelihood to cause some level of damage to national security if there is unauthorised disclosure, and the classifier must be ready to justify the classification upon request. HOW DOES A CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT LOOK? The Official Secrets Act of 1962 does not proceed to lay down a fundamental system of security classification nor stipulate how a classified document can be physically recognised. There are however general standards that may be applied by inference. The 2001 Guide to Marking Documents of the U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency says marking classified documents has six purposes: to alert the holder that the item requires protection, advise the holder of the level of protection, show what is classified and what is not, show how long the information requires protection, give information about the origin of the classification, and provide warnings about any special security requirements. It further provides that \u201cthere are three essential markings required on all information classified as national security information\u2026 [and they] will appear on the face of each classified document.\u201d They are a. Classification Line (at the top and bottom, usually in red ink); b. Portion Marking; and c. Classification Block which consists of the identity of the original classification authority (OCA), agency and office of origin, declassification instructions, and reason for classification. According to the United Kingdom Government Protective Marking Scheme, documents may be classified as top secret, secret or official.   A look at former secret documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveals these markings to be present. (S) represents secret, (TS) represents top secret, (C) represents confidential, (U) represents unclassified, and so on. IGP LETTER TO ACTING PRESIDENT HAS NO MARKINGS A leaked copy of the interim investigation report sent to the Acting President by the Inspector General of Police evidently has none of the aforementioned markings that suggest it to contain classified information. It is, by all indications, a typical letter. If it is argued that the document is indeed classified, then reference may be made to Section 1(3)(a) of the Official Secrets Act which provides possible defences to the offence of transmitting or reproducing classified information. It states: \u201cIn proceedings for an offence under subsection (1) of this section relating to any classified matter, it shall be a defence to prove that when the accused transmitted, obtained, reproduced or retained the matter, as the case may be, he did not know and could not reasonably have been expected to believe that it was classified matter.\u201d Therefore, in this case where Premium Times journalist, Samuel Ogundipe, is alleged to have unlawfully published classified information, it is the case that he could not have known as the document itself does not claim to be classified. AND WHAT IF IT IS CLASSIFIED? \u2026 A GLANCE AT THE UNITED STATES When Donald Trump became president of the United States, he wanted reporters who publish classified documents arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). But according to this Forbes article by Anders Corr, publisher of the Journal of Political Risk: \u201cThis would be a break from past enforcement policies and would be an increase in the power of government relative to the free press in the U.S.\u201d He also wrote: \u201cWhile it may technically be illegal to publish classified material, the Federal Government has generally not enforced laws against such publication by legitimate journalists when that classified material leaks from government sources.\u201d His view was supported by Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black\u2014and the court generally\u2014in the 1971 case of New York Times and Washington Post where it was ruled that the Nixon administration could not prevent the press from publishing leaked, classified Vietnam War documents. James Comey, Director of FBI, was asked in 2017, and he replied that the matter was \u201cprobably beyond my ken\u201d. But Jonathan Peters, a media law professor at the University of Kansas has said, for prosecution to be valid, the publication under scrutiny would have to result in \u201cdirect, immediate and irreparable damage\u201d to the safety or interest of the state. Leaking classified information is, therefore, not automatically a crime in itself. Finally, also instructive is that in 2013, the U.S. Justice Department said it was not going to bring<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[4,123],"tags":[248,115,220,261,260,27,60,259,22,126],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[873],"class_list":["post-1200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-mainstream","tag-africacheck","tag-fact-check","tag-factcheck-org","tag-igp","tag-jimoh-moshood","tag-law","tag-nigeria","tag-police","tag-premium-times-ini-ekott","tag-yemi-osinbajo"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-jm","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":873,"user_id":10,"is_guest":0,"slug":"dubawa","display_name":"Dubawa","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f70a877f6d81734de0ca299eabb33d20687f41f5a4cb83ae8d754fc9412ee293?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":"Strengthening Investigative Journalism for the fight against corruption in Nigeria."}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Jimoh-Moshood-1.jpg?fit=1920%2C1239&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}