Nigerian army says Daily Trust undermined national security

The Nigerian Army has defended its raid on the offices of a national newspaper, Daily Times. The army says it raided the offices of the private Daily Trust newspaper for "undermining national security" by reporting about a planned operation against militant Islamists.

The article "put troops in imminent and clear danger", it said in a statement. He says disclosure of classified security information amounts to a breach of national security and run contrary to Sections 1 and 2 of the Official Secrets Act.

The Army spokesman also noted that the disclosure can give Boko Haram terrorists an advantage in the anti-insurgency war.

Two reporters at the newspaper's office in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency, were arrested.

Daily Trust condemned the raid and asked for its staff to be released.

The newspaper reported on Sunday that an offensive was being planned to retake control of territory captured recently by militant Islamists in north-eastern Borno state.

The army said it did not intend to muzzle the press, but it was forced to act because the newspaper had divulged "classified security information".

"It afforded the Boko Haram terrorists prior notice of our plans and giving them an early warning to prepare against the Nigerian military, thus sabotaging the planned operations and putting the lives of troops in imminent and clear danger," the army statement said.

Daily Trust editor-in-chief Mannir Dan-Ali said the raids on the newspaper's offices in Maiduguri and the capital, Abuja, were "unlawful".

The soldiers sent away staff from the offices and ransacked the newsroom and carted away dozens of computers, he added in a statement.

Boko Haram insurgents, who have caused havoc in north-eastern Nigeria since 2009, are fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.

According to the Daily Trust, a well respected daily paper, the soldiers forced open the gates of its head office in Abuja and drove in with three vans loaded with armed soldiers.