Press Freedom: Coalition condemns continued detention of journalist by police

• Stray Bullet Alert: Journalists Safe In Kano Government House, Official Assures 

The apprehension and continued detention of a journalist, Daniel Ojukwu, by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has generated condemnation from the Coalition for Whistleblowers Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF). 

Ojukwu, who works with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), was arrested by the National Cybercrime Centre (NCCC) connected May 1, 2024, implicit alleged violations of the 2015 Cybercrime Act.

According to the FIJ, Ojukwu was taken into custody by the Nigeria Police without a wide cause.  The radical said his household was not informed of his whereabouts until Friday, May 3, erstwhile they learned that helium was being held astatine the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) successful Panti, Lagos State.   

In a speech with the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, had reportedly confirmed that Ojukwu was arrested and detained astatine the SCID facilities.

In a connection yesterday made disposable to The Guardian successful Taraba State by the coalition, the CWPPF expressed outrage implicit Ojukwu’s apprehension and incarceration, stating that the enactment undermines antiauthoritarian principles and infringe connected property freedom. Apart from calling for Ojukwu’s contiguous release, they besides urged the Nigeria Police to travel due ineligible procedures.

“The reasons for his apprehension and the nonstop charges person not been made public. “Arbitrary apprehension and detention of journalists are unacceptable and negate the halfway principles of democracy.

“The usage of the Cybercrime Act to suppress journalism is simply a worrying inclination that indispensable beryllium addressed,” the Deputy Director astatine CJID, Busola Ajibola, who signed the connection connected behalf of the coalition, said.

The CWPPF besides called connected the Inspector General of Police to guarantee that the 2015 Cybercrime Act is not utilized arsenic a instrumentality to harass journalists oregon curb state of expression. The conjugation noted that past instances of akin arrests had raised concerns astir property state and the public’s close to information.

“Journalism plays a captious relation successful ideology and immoderate effort to intimidate oregon suppress it threatens the full antiauthoritarian process,” Ajibola added.  The police, according to the statement, “must debar utilizing the Cybercrime Act to soundlessness investigative journalism that seeks to beforehand transparency and accountability.”

Meanwhile, the Kano State authorities has refuted a communicative that a stray slug deed a writer successful the Government House, insisting that practicing journalists successful Kano were not nether immoderate signifier of threat. 

The authorities besides cautioned the media to guarantee they crosscheck their facts with applicable sources earlier going to town, stressing that doing truthful is simply a captious constituent of reportage that is devoid of misleading the audience. 

Director General, Media and Publicity, Government House, Sanusi Bature Dawakin-Tofa, who reacted to the story, said the incidental that occurred past Friday evening was blown retired of proportion. 

In a connection yesterday, Dawakin-Tofa maintained that the newsman really suffered an wounded from metallic debris that emanated from an ongoing operation tract astatine the Government House.  

The connection said: “The attraction of the Kano State authorities has been drawn to a one-sided media study connected societal media revealing that a journalist, with the state-owned tv station, attached to the Government House, was deed by a stray bullet.

“The incident, which occurred amidst a flurry of misinformation, sparked wide interest and speculation regarding the information of journalists covering events astatine the Government House. 

“However, the authorities volition similar to emphatically accidental that journalists are not nether menace successful Kano Government House. It is nevertheless worthy to caution journalists to guarantee credible root portion reporting immoderate improvement and debar unnecessary sensational space that tin mislead the public,” Dawakin-Tofa noted. 

Explaining what really happened, helium said: “For clarity purpose, Naziru Yau, the newsman of the authorities tv presumption sustained injuries from the metallic debris emanating from an ongoing operation astatine the Kano State Government House, an country that has been barricaded for caution.

“The information of the incidental emerged erstwhile aesculapian professionals astatine the Government House session disclosed the existent quality of Mr. Naziru’s injuries. The writer expressed gratitude for the punctual aesculapian attraction helium received and thanked well-wishers for their interest during his recovery.”

Recall that the Federal Government had past Friday fixed assurance that the Federal Government would not compromise property freedom.The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who spoke successful Abuja astatine a property briefing organised by his ministry successful concern with the Federal Ministry of Environment and Ecological Management, and the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO), to commemorate this year’s World Press Freedom Day, said the medication of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would warrant unfettered entree to journalists and supply an enabling situation for the media.