By Danlami Nmodu
The Editor –in –Chief of Lagos –based Insider Weekly ,Mr George Mbah has cried out over the continued siege on the magazine by men of the Nigeria Police Force.Mbah told Newsdiaryonline.com this afternoon that police men who invaded the magazine’s office on June 12 have continued the siege.
“ Yesterday(Friday) they came again.Today this(Saturday )morning they came again.Iam sure the next thing they might even come to my house,I don’t know”,Mbah said.
He told Newsdiaryonline.com that “We did a story on the Nigerian Ports Authority Police,it has to do with the heavy syndicate within ..it is just one of the stories inside the current edition of the magazine. They (Police0 have been coming to our office (since June 12).They want to arrest.
He said the magazine’s current edition has cover story on the thickening plot to dump vice president Namadi Sambo.But he suspects it is the story on the police port authority police that is responsible for this relentless siege.
Mbah told Newsdiaryonline.com there is a strong basis to suspect that this current harassment is because of the story on the ports authority police syndicate.“We knew because our marine correspondent, the police people there contacted him, ( they) called him on Monday asking him who wrote the story.The guy (told them) he is not the one that wrote the story.”
Earlier the management of the magazine issued the statement below crying out over the harassment.Except PMNews that published the story earlier,the statement has not been used by the other newspapers he sent it to,Mbah alleged.
Mbah was one of the editors arrested and jailed by the Sani Abacha junta after trial over a phantom coup.
The siege on Insider weekly magazine is the latest twist in the ongoing harassment of the media by security forces. Recently ,the military confiscated copies of several newspapers across the country.The papers affected include Leadership, DailyTrust, Punch and the Nation among others.
Defence spokesman ,Major General Chris Olukolade said it was not an attack on critical media but the the military acted based on intelligence reports.The seemingly helpless presidency sympathised with the affected newspapers while dismissing the claim that the Goodluck Jonathan regime was harassing the media.
Read the Insider Weekly statement below:
