The
Goodluck Jonathan administration yesterday came down hard on the media:
it arrested and detained some senior journalists working for
LEADERSHIP, in a move seen as coming from an “oga at the top”.
The
four journalists — Mrs Chinyere Fred-Adegbulugbe, former editor of the
LEADERSHIP Sunday, now executive director, human capital; Mr Chuks
Ohuegbe, managing editor; Mr. Tony Amokeodo, group news editor; and Mr
Chibuzor Ukaibe, political reporter — were summoned to the Force
Headquarters following a story this newspaper published on a
“presidential directive” to attack key opposition political parties’
leaders.
LEADERSHIP
learnt that, after the senior editors had written their statements as
demanded by the police, they were told that they would not be released
until they disclosed the source of the said story. The presidency has
been having sleepless nights over the story which unravelled an alleged
presidential directive targeting the opposition as well as a plan to
increase the pump price of fuel.
Prior
to the arrest and detention of the four journalists, officers from the
Force Headquarters had been visiting the newspaper’s corporate office
and demanding for the reporters of the story. They gave the impression
that they only wanted to find out the source of the story, a directive,
they averred, came from the presidency.
As
at 7pm, the four detainees who were arrested around 10am were yet to be
released on bail, even when police spokesperson CSO Frank Mba promised
that they would be allowed to go.
Around
7.45pm two of the detainees, Fred-Adegbulugbe and Ohuegbe, were
released while Amokeodo and Ukaibe were driven out of the Force
Headquarter to an unknown destination. Every attempt made to speak with
the duo failed as the police had seized their handsets.
However,
sources told LEADERSHIP that Mr. Amokeodo and Ukaibe were taken to the
police tracking unit, an underground detention centre at the Force
Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Area 10 of the FCT.
Mba,
who insisted that the journalists would be released, said he had
contacted members of the police investigative team and that they had
assured him that the detainees would be released last night.
He
however did not state categorically when they would be let off the hook
eventually, when it was obvious that it was getting late for
investigative activities.
Meanwhile,
the management of LEADERSHIP, in a statement last night, demanded the
immediate release of the journalists, insisting that if they had run
foul of the law they should be taken to court.
A
part of the statement signed by LEADERSHIP Group’s managing director Mr
Azubuike Ishiekwene at 7.30pm reads: “Four journalists with LEADERSHIP
Newspapers have been detained at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, on the
orders of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“The
journalists — Mrs Chinyere Fred-Adegbulugbe, Mr Tony Amokeodo, Mr
Chibuzor Ukaibe, and Mr Chuks Ohuegbe — had reported at the Force
Headquarters on Monday morning to honour an invitation by the police.
“The
director, human capital, and former LEADERSHIP Sunday editor, Mrs.
Fred-Adegbulugbe, who led the journalists, said, ‘After the journalists
finished writing statements, DIG Peter Gana suddenly excused himself on a
call from IGP Mohammed Abubakar.
“We
were later told that we would not be allowed to leave except we
produced the source of the story. It was clear that this was not the
call of the police. It is from President Goodluck Jonathan.
“We
told them that it would be unethical to disclose our source and asked
them to charge us to court, if they wanted. They said they wanted to
have the document. We said the bromide had been published and wondered
why they were making such a fuss, since they said the document was a
work of fiction.
“They
have made it clear that we would not be released except we gave them
the document. We couldn’t get out. I was escorted to use the toilet
after begging.
“This
is a calculated and brazen affront on press freedom; we are bereft that
a supposedly elected government will come this low.
“We
demand the unconditional and immediate release of our journalists –
Mrs. Chinyere Fred-Adebulugbe (director, human capital), Chuks Ohuegbe
(managing editor), Tony Amokeodo (group news editor), and Chibuzor
Ukaibe (political reporter).
“President
Jonathan and his handlers need to tell Nigerians and the civilised
world why they have suddenly moved from describing the document as
‘fiction’ to a do-or-die obsession with knowing the source; they need to
tell Nigerians, most of whom now live in mortal fear of their personal
safety and security, if clamping down on the press has now become a
priority sport.
“On
our part, we wish to restate our resolve to continue to hold the
government to account as enshrined in Chapter 22 of the 1999
Constitution (as amended) and to remain resolute in championing the
cause of press freedom and the right of the people to know.
“We
stand by our story and will neither be cowed nor intimidated by the
strong-arm tactics of President Jonathan nor by the puerile attempts by
his spokesmen -- Dr Doyin Okupe and Dr Reuben Abati – to tarnish our
report.”
NUJ, Editors, HURIWA condemn arrest
The
Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has condemned yesterday’s arrest and
detention of four journalists on the stable of LEADERSHIP Newspaper
group on the orders of President Goodluck Jonathan.
In
a statement by its President, Mr. Femi Adesina, the Guild faulted the
government’s turnaround to detain the LEADERSHIP Four after honouring an
invitation by the police over a report published by the newspaper last
week.
Also,
President, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Malam Muhammad Garba,
has called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, and
relevant authorities to release the journalists held in police custody
in line with the provisions of theS Constitution.
Garba
said the NUJ was surprised at the arrest of the four journalists
yesterday by the Force Headquarters, but shocked when two of them, were
released and the two other were taken to undisclosed location.
The
NUJ president described the arrest as “an attempt by the Nigerian
government to muscle the Press and prevent it from carrying out its
constitutional duty of ensuring good governance and justice in the
country.”
He
added that the detained journalists should be released immediately and
given their fundamental freedom, saying if the government was aggrieved
by the alleged publication, “it should follow due process to seek
redress rather than harass journalists who were merely discharging their
constitutional duty.”
And,
Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked the
Federal Government to go to court if it has any case against the
Leadership Newspaper, rather than resorting to crude tactics of
self-help by harassing the organisation and its staff.
In
a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko and National
Media Affairs Director, Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said “rather than
harassing the media organization and its staff, the police should
concentrate their energy on restoring peace and security in the country
as well as focus its attention on how to regain the respect of
Nigerians.
“The
media has the independent constitutional mandate to inform, educate,
and entertain Nigerians and if in the event of carrying out these
functions the practitioners are presumed to have erred, then the law
enforcement officials must respect the due process of the law and use
civilize approach to gather their body of evidence if they are convinced
that what the media wrote was false and/or malicious.”
The
NGE wrote:“The Presidency has faulted the report, in which the
newspaper claimed (accompanied by the alleged bromide of an official
document) that there was an official directive to deal with certain
political figures in the country, who were opposed in one way or the
other to the government of the day. LEADERSHIP Newspaper, however,
responded to the rebuttal, saying it stood by its story.
“When
such a development occurs, as it will inevitably happen in a vibrant
and virile polity like ours, we expect the security agencies to
scrupulously investigate the issues at stake, while being mindful of the
fact that we run a democracy, with freedom of the press enshrined in
our Constitution.”
The
Guild warned: “No government that lays claims to democratic credentials
can afford to be at loggerheads with the Press, which is a worthy ally
in any robust democracy, as we seek to become. Yes LEADERSHIP Newspaper
and its staffers can be investigated for any tendentious report, but
this can, and should be done without the scaremongering tactic of
clamping journalists into detention, after inviting them to Force
Headquarters, where they had reported without any form of resistance…The
law has not empower any agency of government to determine guilt in any
form. Only the courts can.”
The
NGE therefore, demanded “that the journalists be released, as they will
in no way stand in the path of dutiful investigation by the security
agencies.”
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