Pecohub John Okafor, a parliamentary security officer, was on routine patrol at the National Assembly Arcade at about 5 p.m. sometime in June last year when he witnessed an unusual scene.
A Nigerian Army major-general, accompanied by military officers, was meting out punishments on three men, who appeared to be in their early 40s.
The men were ordered to kneel, raise their hands, hold their ears, and perform frog jumps around the Arcade. The men, Mr Okafor later learned, were being punished for allegedly duping the military officer by disguising themselves as journalists covering the National Assembly.
They had reportedly collected money from the officer in May 2025 when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, promising to publicise the sitting.
The parliamentary officer could not keep the incident to himself. He went to the Senate Press Centre to brief accredited journalists, urging them to be vigilant and to strengthen their relationships with heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to ensure proper recognition of legitimate reporters.
Several journalists, including the Chairman of the Senate Press Corps, Taiye Odewale, listened as the officer narrated the incident.
Mr Okafor said he could not confirm the exact amount they collected from the general. When this Pecohub reporter requested that the officer disclose the identity of the military officer, he declined, saying he did not want the officer portrayed in a bad light.
The parliamentary officer said the general waited for weeks to see himself on television and in newspapers, but nothing appeared. When he returned to the Senate a month later for the same case, the three men approached him again, seeking more money for publicity.
Since he had discovered they were impostors, the officer asked them to follow him to his car to collect the money, unaware that he had already devised a plan to deal with them.
This incident is one of several recorded in recent months in which visitors to the National Assembly, particularly heads of MDAs, had been harassed within the complex by individuals posing as journalists.
In the past, journalists covering the National Assembly were required to wear visible, official identification tags issued by the parliament. Today, access is largely dependent on letters of introduction from media organisations or on notification letters issued by management confirming reporters’ identities. These notifications are typically printed in black and white on A4-sized paper.
Official press tags were last issued to accredited journalists during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Mohammed Sani-Omolori was the Clerk to the National Assembly. Successive clerks have retained this temporary arrangement, declining to reinstate the issuance of official press identification tags.
Under the former system, press tags were renewed annually and carried the journalist’s photograph, media organisation, designation and expiry date. The tags provided an easy means of identification within and around the National Assembly complex, and no individual could gain access as a journalist without presenting the official ID card.
Journalists who covered the parliament at the time confirmed that the suspension of press tag issuance during Mr Sani-Omolori’s tenure was reportedly justified on cost grounds. However, such expenses are ordinarily expected to be accommodated within the National Assembly’s annual budget, which runs into billions of naira.
The continued reliance on letters of introduction and black-and-white notification slips has created an unfriendly and insecure environment for journalists from credible media organisations, as it enables impostors to move freely within the complex without any verifiable or traceable affiliation to print, broadcast or online media outlets.
These impostors often parade the complex with worn-out cameras and microphones. In many cases, they troop into committee rooms not to report proceedings but to scramble for leftover fruits, snacks, bottled water and other refreshments left behind by lawmakers after meetings.
For instance, on 9 October 2025, during an interactive session between the Senate Committee on Finance and the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, over the 2025 budget performance, chaos broke out moments after the committee chairman, Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), adjourned the meeting.
Three men and two women rushed to the senators’ seats to pack leftover items. Fatimah Musa*, a committee staff member, confronted them and demanded their identity. They quickly identified themselves as journalists.
However, ThisDay Newspaper correspondent at the Senate, Sunday Aborisade, intervened and asked them to present official media identification cards. None could produce any. They were subsequently ordered out of the committee room and asked to drop the items they had collected.
Aside from scrambling for leftovers, these impostors also harass some heads of MDAs who appear before the National Assembly, extorting money from them under the guise of journalists and, at times, fighting over the proceeds.
