Premium Times has called for the
immediate release of its reporter, Samuel Ogundipe, who was detained on Tuesday
by the Nigeria Police over a report.
The Publisher, Dapo Olorunyomi,
in a statement, lamented that the development happened on the day the Nigerian
presidency was complaining about the excesses of a unit in the police.
Noting that Ogundipe was arrested
by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Olorunyomi said the newspaper’s
Editor-in-Chief, Musikilu Mojeed, and its education correspondent, Azeezat
Adedigba, were also briefly detained and manhandled.
He said: “Ms Adedigba was later
released after about three hours of detention.
“Mr Mojeed and Mr Ogundipe were
driven from the SARS headquarters in Abuja to the IGP Monitoring Unit at Force
Headquarters where Mr Ogundipe was made to write a statement.
“At the Force headquarters, a
Deputy Commissioner of Police at the IGP Monitoring Unit, Sani Ahmadu, was
heard directing lawyers to “rush to court” to obtain a warrant to detain Mr
Ogundipe.
“They repeatedly asked the
journalist to disclose his source for a story published by this newspaper.
“The story, also published by
other media, revealed a letter written by the Inspector General of Police,
Ibrahim Idris, to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on last week’s siege to the
National Assembly by security officials.
“When Mr Mojeed alerted the DCP
that it was wrong compelling a journalist to disclose a source of information,
the police officer became furious threatening the journalist.
“He said the police was acting
within the law and that Samuel would remain detained unless he discloses those
who gave him the document,” the journalist said.
“The police are yet to offer a
coherent reason for their denial of the reporter his freedom.
“Premium Times especially
condemns the Gestapo manner in which the Nigeria Police have taken Mr Ogundipe
into custody and hereby demands his immediate and unconditional release.
“His detention is in gross
violation of Mr Ogundipe’s rights, the Nigerian laws and all democratic tenets;
and is an unacceptable abridgement of his citizenship and professional
privileges.
“It should be embarrassing to the
Nigeria Police to so brazenly clamp down on a law-abiding citizen and
journalist with an apparent sinister view to inhibiting the practice of his
profession in line with its ethics and within the latitude guaranteed by the
laws of Nigeria and international conventions.
“The subterfuge employed in
bringing in the reporter, even while harassing his colleagues should also be
condemned by all Nigerians.
“This heavy-handed treatment of a
journalist against whom no case of violation of the law has been made is an
embarrassment to Nigeria and advertises the country as disdainful of its own
laws and democratic practice.
“We wonder what the
Inspector-General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, finds attractive in making Nigeria
a laughing stock at a time the eyes of the civilised world are on the country
as it approaches a milestone in the development of its democracy.
“We therefore call on Acting
President Yemi Osinbajo to direct the Police to release Mr Ogundipe immediately
and unconditionally.”
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