The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has strongly and unreservedly condemned the arrest of four Leadership newspaper journalists by the police, apparently acting on orders from above, for no reason other than for carrying out their constitutionally-assigned role.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the arrest, over a story the government has refuted, is the worst
attack against press freedom under the Jonathan Administration, and a sign of the seemingly-inevitable descent into dictatorship by an increasingly-desperate presidency.
It said the arrest is also a sign of things to come, warning that the Administration will increasingly seek to tamper with press freedom as it pushes its do-or-die plan to stay in power, with or without the people’s votes.
ACN said the alleged vow by the police not to allow the detained journalists to leave until they have revealed the source of their story has shown that the Leadership’s story – on the plan by the presidency to scuttle the merger of progressives and target key leaders of the emerging All Progressives’ Congress (APC) – is indeed true.
”Why will the police, and by extension those who are playing the puppeteers in this case, be interested in the source of a story that the government has described as fake? This confirms the saying that anywhere one sees a ‘no thoroughfare sign’, there is indeed a road!
The party also criticized the police for pushing the detained journalists to act against the ethics of their profession by disclosing the source of their story, and hailed the journalists for rejecting such request and the newspaper’s management for standing by its story and refusing to be cowed.
”We demand an immediate and unconditional release of the detained journalists and the tendering of an unreserved apology to them. And if the police is convinced that the journalists have broken any law, it should charge them to court. After all, the police cannot be the accuser and the judge at the same time.
”To the Jonathan Administration, we say no government, whether elected or not and irrespective of its level of brutality, has ever won any battle against the media, and this administration will
not be the first!” ACN warned.
Also Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has condemned Monday’s detention without charge of four media workers with the Leadership newspaper by the Nigeria Police in Abuja over stories published by the newspaper last week.
MRA called on the Federal Government to put a leash on its rampaging law enforcement agents as it has nothing to gain but everything to lose by projecting to the international community and its citizens an image of a lawless government which muzzles the media.
The media workers detained by the Police, according to a statement by the Group Managing Director of the Leadership Newspaper Group, Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene, are Mrs. Chinyere Fred-Adebulugbe, the Director of Human Capital; Mr. Chuks Ohuegbe, the Managing Editor; Mr. Tony Amokeodo, the Group News Editor; and Mr. Chibuzor Ukaibe, a Political Reporter.
Their detention is the culmination of a series of acts of harassment and intimidation launched by the Police against the newspaper following its publication on April 3 a story titled “Outrage Trail Presidential Directive on Tinubu, APC” and the full text of the presidential directive in bromide on April 4, with the caption “Bromide of the Presidential Directive.”
Mr. Ishiekwene had earlier issued a statement on April 7, in which he reported that the police had besieged the offices of the Leadership newspapers group since the publications and also announced that the newspaper had received a letter from the Police inviting three of its reporters to report to the Police next day, April 8.
In the letter dated April 7, 2013 with reference number CR:3000/X/FHQ/ABJ/VOL. 49/34 and titled “Investigation Activities: Police Invitation”, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the ‘D’ Department of the Nigeria Police told the Chairman of Leadership newspapers that the attention of three reporters, namely Mr. Amokeodo, Mr. Ukaibe and Ms Taiwo Ogunmola-Omilani, was required to “interview the Deputy Inspector General of Police ‘D’ department (FCID) on Monday, 08th April, 2013 at 1000hrs.”
Mr. Amokeodo and Mr. Ukaibe, accompanied by some senior officials of the newspaper, honoured the invitation on April 8, but the third reporter, Ms Ogunmola-Omilani, could not honour the invitation because she based in Lagos and could not make it to Abuja early enough to join her colleagues.
According to Mr. Ishiekwene’s statement, Mrs. Fred-Adegbulugbe, who is also a former Sunday Editor for Leadership newspaper and 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 if 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.”
MRA said it was ironic that a government which is quite weak in virtually every other respect where it needs to be strong and decisive has chosen to show strength in entirely the wrong area – in clamping down on the media.
Saying that it was clear from the circumstances that the media workers are not being held for the commission of any crime but in an effort to force them to reveal their source, MRA called on the Police to charge them to court if it had any case against them and if not, to release them immediately.
MRA’s Deputy Executive Director, Ms Jennifer Onyejekwe, said: “It is totally wrong for the Police to hold the journalists hostage as a strategy for extracting their source for the information that was published”
Ms Onyejekwe argued that journalists depend on their sources in order to inform the public and that their ability to do so would be compromised if they are forced to reveal confidential sources. Besides, she said, the independence of journalists will be compromised if their sources and professional materials are made available to the police.
She noted that journalists have a duty to protect confidential sources as part of the framework for the protection of whistleblowers; defending the public’s right to know; and ensuring access to information, stressing that it is in any event, part of the professional standards and ethics of the journalism profession for journalists to protect their sources of information
Equally, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project LEDAP has condemned in strong terms the arrest and detention of four journalists of the Leadership newspaper (Tony Amokeodo, Chibuzor Ukaibe, Chinyere Fred-Adebulugbe, and Chuks Ohuegbe). yesterday by Police at the Force Headquarters in Abuja. LEDAP calls for their immediate release, and unreserved apology to them and management of the Leadership newspaper.
LEDAP in a statement by Chino Obiagwu its national coordinator called on all media houses to withdraw their reporters from Aso Rock and police Force headquarters until the police release the detained journalists, apologise to them and the Leadership newspapers and give written assurances to the Nigerian Union of Journalists and Nigerian Guild of Editors that such incident will not occur in future.
LEDAP said it is concerned that the arrest and detention of the journalists is coming at a time human rights situation in the country is gravely deteriorating. There has been widespread extra judicial killings by security agents across the country, unnecessary political intimidation of the opposition and total lack of sensitivity of government officials to the plight and concerns of the majority of Nigerian citizens. Such attack against journalists by a civil and democratic government portents great danger to the stability of democracy and respect for human rights and the rule of law in the country.
“LEDAP notes that if government is unhappy with any media publication, its response should be to take legal action in the court against the authors for libel, or provide alternative report to rebut the information in the publication. The government is not above the law and cannot take laws into its hands.
“LEDAP is worried that increasingly, the Jonathan administration and its handlers are beginning to think, talk and behave like a military junta, and repressing press and free speech is the hallmark of dictatorship.
“Media practitioners and civil society organizations must work together proactively to protect press freedom and free speech in Nigeria, which is important in deepening democracy and improving public governance”LEDAP said.
