LAGOS (AFP) -- Nigerian editors on Friday condemned this week's raids of two private newspapers by security operatives, saying the action might derail the country's nascent democracy. The Nigerian Guild of Editors said in a statement that the invasion of the Leadership newspaper on Tuesday and the Abuja Inquirer the following day by officers of the State Security Service (SSS) "portend a bad omen for democracy." The group said the action should be condemned "more so when it came a few months to the April general elections."

Tensions are rising in Nigeria ahead of the gubernatorial, parliamentary and presidential elections in April.

The crucial vote in the west African country will be the first transition from civilian to civilian rule and will choose a successor to President Olusegun Obasanjo, who will step down having served a constitutionally limited two terms of eight years.

On Wednesday, the SSS invaded the premises of the Abuja Inquirer over a story in the current edition of the weekly they considered "seditious".

The raid came barely 24 hours after the Abuja office of the Leadership newspaper was searched after alleging that Obasanjo was illegally a shareholder in a private airline .

The head of the newspaper group, Shehu Dauda, said the security officers arrested a top official of the company and took some documents away.