ACTION Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has an advice for former President Olusegun Obasanjo: speak the truth at all times if you want Nigerians to respect you.

The party said it was unfortunate that Obasanjo is now clamping down on the media, which saved him from death during the regime of the late General Sani Abacha.

Condemning Tuesday's arrest of editors of The Nation based on the October 4 and 5 publications by the newspaper on Obasanjo's letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, the ACN also warned Jonathan to do everything to protect the judiciary and the media “if our democracy is to survive”.

“Does Obasanjo remember that he would probably not be alive today were it not for this same media which exposed the plan by the Abacha administration to execute him with dispatch after his conviction over an alleged coup?” the party asked in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

The statement reads: “The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has strongly condemned the arrest and detention of four senior editors and other officials of The Nation, reportedly following a petition to the police by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“The harassment of journalists for no other reason than for carrying out their professional duties is a dangerous throwback to the past and a blight on the country's democratic credentials”.

He reminded the police, which acted illegally in arresting the editors without establishing reasonable suspicion as stipulated by Section 35 of the Constitution, Obasanjo who is so eager to get his pound of flesh and Jonathan under whose watch this is happening, that the media fought hard, perhaps more than any other group, for the democracy being enjoyed by all today.
ACN wondered whether the Inspector-General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, who reportedly ordered the arrest of the journalists, would have acted with the same alacrity if the personality concerned is an ordinary Nigerian.

''The Nigeria Police Force put up a show of force in harassing and detaining harmless journalists. This is typical of the police, which sees itself as beholding to the elite while daily intimidating, brutalising and killing ordinary Nigerians. One can only imagine how successful the police would have been in tackling the security challenges facing the country if it had been employing the same attitude (show of force) in battling armed robbers, kidnappers and Boko Haram elements,'' the party said
It wondered why Obasanjo did not go to court to challenge the paper's story which he found offensive, as he had threatened, instead of petitioning the police as he did.

''Would Obasanjo have done that (petition the police) if he had not been a former President? Is it not possible that he used his status to goad the police into carrying out an illegal act, in line with his trademark disregard for the rule of law? Does Obasanjo remember that he would probably not be alive today were it not for this same media which exposed the plan by the Abacha administration to execute him with dispatch after his conviction over an alleged coup?'' ACN queried.

The party also said Jonathan cannot escape being blamed for the illegal action of the police under his watch, especially since he has so far not come out to condemn the action of the police in not carrying out an investigation before harassing innocent journalists.

''Under President Jonathan's watch, the judiciary has been hobbled and judges cowed. Is it now the turn of the media to be cowed? Is the arrest of The Nation's journalists aimed at sending a signal to the media that publishing the truth is not enough, and that journalists risk arrest and detention if their stories make the high and mighty in the society uncomfortable?'' it said.
ACN also said it is curious that the Presidency has not come out to say whether or not the contentious letter is in its possession, ''or is the presidency saying, by its silence on this issue, that no such letter exists?''

Concerning the authenticity or otherwise of the letter at the centre of the whole issue, the party said the police should have used handwriting experts to determine the authenticity of the letter, after which it can arrest the journalists (if it found that the letter was forged) and charge them to court.

It warned that the targeting of the judiciary and the media - two institutions that are key to the survival of any democracy - for decimation could spell danger for the nation's young democracy, and call for vigilance on the part of the citizenry if the country is not to be taken down the path of dictatorship.

In Abuja, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday strongly condemned the arrest of the editors, describing it as a gross violation of freedom of expression and human rights.

The CNPP called for the immediate release of the journalists.

The Conference, an umbrella body for opposition political parties, pointed out that the Rule of Law recommends that whosoever feels aggrieved or that his rights has been violated is to proceed to court.

It frowned at what it called the return to dark ages and violation of the rights of journalists to access information and disclosure of information received in confidence.

The CNPP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, in Abuja, said: "The arrest of The Nation Editors –Yusuf Ali, Managing Editor North, Lawal Ogienagbon, Deputy Editor, Yomi Odunuga, Abuja Bureau Chief and Dapo Olufade, News Editor for Weekend titles, for publishing the letter of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan is gross violation of their freedom of expression and human rights as expressly guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and African Charter on Peoples and Human Rights.

"We condemn in no uncertain terms the resort to brigandage and self-help by the presidency; for the democratic best practices and rule of law recommend that whosoever feels aggrieved or that his rights have been violated is to proceed to court.
"We frown at the return to dark ages and violation of the rights of journalists to access information and disclosure of information received in confidence.

"Otherwise, is it not paradoxical that the government is arresting the journalists after Chief Obasanjo had told the whole world that he did not write a letter to President Jonathan?

"President Jonathan should tread softly for the rule of law and due process are basic tenets and the bedrock of liberal democracy; therefore, busy body security operatives should not be allowed to resort to self-help. The editors should be released forthwith”.

Meanwhile, detectives raided the Abuja office of The Nation yesterday, carting away some documents and computers.
They also went to the Lagos office of the newspaper with the detained Olufade to search it.

Some detectives, led by Sergeant Amechi Augustine and a woman Inspector, Moji Kelani, were deployed to the houses of Olufade, Mrs. Dupe Olaoye-Osinkalu and John Unachukwu, searching for copies of the letter.

Members of the Lagos State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), led by the chairman, Deji Elumoye, were seen at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, to see some of the detained journalists.



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