TWO Journalists of Online Newspaper, Premium Times arrested on Thursday have been released by the Nigerian Police.

Photo; Twitter.com




‎Dapo Olorunyomi, publisher of the newspaper, was arrested alongside the judiciary correspondent, Evelyn Okakwu, at around 5:00 p.m.
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They were released on bail and instructed to report at the FCT Police Command Headquarters by 8:00 a.m. Friday morning.
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But a highly-placed police source said the invitation could be a ploy to detain the journalists for an extended period.
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The police source said there are chances that the two could be taken before a Magistrate’s Court.
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“From what I understand, if they report tomorrow morning, they will be taken to a Magistrate’s Court and arraigned before a judge that will readily comply with the police arrangement and grant order for them to be detained,” the source said. “That way, they can then claim to be detaining them legally.”
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The development has sparked widespread condemnation, with the Amnesty International promising to launch an investigation into the motive behind it.
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The journalists were arrested after several plain-clothed officers raided Premium Times office.

The newspaper’s managing editor, Idris Akinbajo, hailed the “overwhelming” support from Nigerians and readers around the world.
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He said the paper would release a full statement after the journalists meet the police Friday morning.‎

kin8744:
Osibanjo should intervene in this Matter ASAP. Let Nigerians too rest before Buhari comes back.

roughdiamond:
Honestly, with these arrests of journalists, I can firmly confirm and believe strongly that the raids on some judges houses and almost all the arrests taken place, including that of EFCC are all propaganda. Even if we are Still in military Era, it's too much already. Brutai should just simply come out and clear all the allegations against him because this his "action" proves that to be true. Thank God I overcame all the temptations to vote for this government even after all their useless promises

ivandragon:
I hope the Social Media Idiots have a good defence for this one...

with SaharaReporters & PremiumTimes being hounded, this might signal the end of exposés on this regime.

anyway, methinks there is a bigger agenda behind all these & to actualise that agenda, the media needs to be gagged.

now its news media. the social media is next!

kerryjossy:


Even if the govt controls the activities of the print and broadcast media houses, it cant control the digital media. Almost every average Nigerian now has nose for news. If u can control Linda Ikeji from publishing a particular news, there are still one thousand n one other ways for that particular news to get to the public.

kin8744:
Osibanjo should intervene in this Matter ASAP. Let Nigerians too rest before Buhari comes back.

ivandragon:


& how many of those 'digital media' mediums carry out investigative journalism or are as reputable as PremiumTimes?

its not about getting junk information from 1001 places, its getting concise & informative news from reputable sources...

factsandfigures:
Why the arrest in the first instance? The president team are doing more harm to PMB than good by their undemocratic actions. PMB is fast losing goodwill and credibility locally and internationally. I just noticed that the die hard supporters of PMB on nairaland forum have started losing confidence in him.

shammah1:
You mean that mere commissioner?

kerryjossy:


There are!! Majority of them. Some of the news u see on newspapers are gotten from such sources (quote me anywhere). I know we all think that its only trained investigative journalists that does that...it doesnt work that way. I work in a media house. I know how we get some of the news we publish. There are still people out there who are ready to dig out the news behind 'the news'. They musnt work in a media house. Some of them prefer to go online and be heard instead of selling the news to the print media houses knowing fully well that their 'hard sourced information' could be dead when it gets to these media houses.

kin8744:
I mean the professor.