Four members of staff of LEADERSHIP Newspapers Group are being detained at the Police headquarters in Abuja over a recent exclusive story on a “presidential directive” targeting the opposition and containing plans to raise petrol prices, among other things.

LEADERSHIP had earlier reported that between Wednesday when the newspaper first published the story and yesterday, police officers have visited the newspaper’s head office in Abuja three times, demanding to see the journalists who wrote the story.

The psychological siege climaxed yesterday with a summons to the newspaper to appear at Force Headquarters in Abuja this morning.

Thus, our Managing Editor Mr. Chuks Ohuegbe, Head of Human Resource, Mrs. Chinyere Fred-Adegbulugbe, News Editor Mr. Tony Amoekedo and our correspondent Chibuzor Ukaibe presented themselves for questioning earlier today.

Tony Amoekedo and Chibuzor Ukaibe were asked to write a statement, which they did. They were then asked to disclose the source of the bromide published with the article. But the news editor replied that it is against the ethics of the profession to do so.

Based on their insistence to keep the source secret, the Police have refused to let them go.

At the moment, they are being kept by three officers from the office of the DIG on the 7 th floor.
More details soon.

Vision2017: This has got to show that GEJ administration has lost confidence in itself and is now employing intimidation and oppression tactics to summount any oposition it might face. I see GEJ politically humiliated in the next general election come 2015

Vision2017: This has got to show that GEJ administration has lost confidence in itself and is now employing intimidation and oppression tactics to summount any oposition it might face. I see GEJ politically humiliated in the next general election come 2015

Tony Amoekedo and Chibuzor Ukaibe were asked to write a statement, which they did. They were then asked to disclose the source of the bromide published with the article. But the news editor replied that it is against the ethics of the profession to do so.
Based on their insistence to keep the source secret, the Police have refused to let them go.
At the moment, they are being kept by three officers from the office of the DIG on the 7th floor.

Adura_ngba: Good for them.

The Director, Human Capital and former LEADERSHIP Sunday Editor, Mrs. Fred-Adegbulugbe, who led the journalists said, “After the journalists finished writing statements, DIG Peter Gana suddenly excused himself on a call from IGP Mohammed Abubakar.

“We were later told that we would not be allowed to leave except if we produced the source of the story. It was clear that this was not the call of the police. It is from President Goodluck Jonathan.

“We told them that it would be unethical to disclose our source and asked them to charge us to court, if they wanted. They said they wanted to have the document. We said the bromide had been published and wondered why they were making such a fuss, since they said the document was a work of fiction.

“The have made it clear that we would not be released except we give them the document. We can’t get out. I was escorted to use the toilet after begging.”

This is a calculated and brazen affront on press freedom; we are bereft that a supposedly elected government will come this low.

We demand the unconditional and immediate release of our journalists – Mrs. Chinyere Fred-Adebulugbe (Director, Human Capital); Chuks Ohuegbe (Managing Editor); Tony Amokeodo (Group News Editor); and Chibuzor Ukaibe (Political Reporter).

President Jonathan and his handlers need to tell Nigerians and the civilised world why they have suddenly moved from describing the document as “fiction,” to a do-or-die obsession with knowing the source; they need to tell Nigerians most of who now live in mortal fear of their personal safety and security, if clamping down on the press has now become a priority sport.

On our part, we wish to restate our resolve to continue to hold the government to account as enshrined in Chapter 22 of the constitution and to remain resolute in championing the course of press freedom and the right of the people to know.

We stand by our story and will neither be cowed nor intimidated by the strong-arm tactics of President Jonathan nor by the puerile attempts by his spokesmen – Doyin Okupe and Dr. Reuben Abati – to tarnish our report.

Azubuike Ishiekwene
Group Managing Director
LEADERSHIP Group Limited

Adura_ngba:

So the government should keep quiet when journalists falsify state papers?

jmaine: Highlighting the ever insatiable and confused nature of Nigerians . .I present to you a previous thread where people dared the Govt to take action if they were truly sure it was fake . . .

https://www.nairaland.com/1245518/outrage-trails-presidential-directive-tinubu


Now the Govt takes this up and the usual insidious nature of some Nigerians, who simply love to complain to no where are putting up a good show here . . .

Adura_ngba:
So the government should keep quiet when journalists falsify state papers?

take dat: Where was the Nigerian police before Maina absconded? If they are sure the journalists have committed an infraction contrary to the law, they should institute legal action against them instead of this crude tactics. Journalists cannot be compelled to disclose their source to the police, the court should decide!

OsunOriginal: The end of GEJ's government is imminent...

eGuerrilla:

Get it right, the objective commentators who have expressed an opinion on this thread have only asked for adherence to the to the rule of law - and nothing more. I know you would rather have these journos locked away in some gulag, where they can be subjected to repeated episodes of water-boarding, but we are still operating in a democracy.

jmaine:

Did you just say objective commentators . .You need to use a better phrase than peddle that vain scrappy cloak of objectivity you all seek to adorn . . . . . . .

NUJ, Editors, HURIWA condemn arrest

The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has condemned yesterday’s arrest and detention of four journalists on the stable of LEADERSHIP Newspaper group on the orders of President Goodluck Jonathan.

In a statement by its President, Mr. Femi Adesina, the Guild faulted the government’s turnaround to detain the LEADERSHIP Four after honouring an invitation by the police over a report published by the newspaper last week.

Also, President, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Malam Muhammad Garba, has called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, and relevant authorities to release the journalists held in police custody in line with the provisions of theS Constitution.

Garba said the NUJ was surprised at the arrest of the four journalists yesterday by the Force Headquarters, but shocked when two of them, were released and the two other were taken to undisclosed location.

The NUJ president described the arrest as “an attempt by the Nigerian government to muscle the Press and prevent it from carrying out its constitutional duty of ensuring good governance and justice in the country.”

He added that the detained journalists should be released immediately and given their fundamental freedom, saying if the government was aggrieved by the alleged publication, “it should follow due process to seek redress rather than harass journalists who were merely discharging their constitutional duty.”

And, Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked the Federal Government to go to court if it has any case against the Leadership Newspaper, rather than resorting to crude tactics of self-help by harassing the organisation and its staff.

In a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko and National Media Affairs Director, Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said “rather than harassing the media organization and its staff, the police should concentrate their energy on restoring peace and security in the country as well as focus its attention on how to regain the respect of Nigerians.

“The media has the independent constitutional mandate to inform, educate, and entertain Nigerians and if in the event of carrying out these functions the practitioners are presumed to have erred, then the law enforcement officials must respect the due process of the law and use civilize approach to gather their body of evidence if they are convinced that what the media wrote was false and/or malicious.”

The NGE wrote:“The Presidency has faulted the report, in which the newspaper claimed (accompanied by the alleged bromide of an official document) that there was an official directive to deal with certain political figures in the country, who were opposed in one way or the other to the government of the day. LEADERSHIP Newspaper, however, responded to the rebuttal, saying it stood by its story.

“When such a development occurs, as it will inevitably happen in a vibrant and virile polity like ours, we expect the security agencies to scrupulously investigate the issues at stake, while being mindful of the fact that we run a democracy, with freedom of the press enshrined in our Constitution.”

The Guild warned: “No government that lays claims to democratic credentials can afford to be at loggerheads with the Press, which is a worthy ally in any robust democracy, as we seek to become. Yes LEADERSHIP Newspaper and its staffers can be investigated for any tendentious report, but this can, and should be done without the scaremongering tactic of clamping journalists into detention, after inviting them to Force Headquarters, where they had reported without any form of resistance…The law has not empower any agency of government to determine guilt in any form. Only the courts can.”

The NGE therefore, demanded “that the journalists be released, as they will in no way stand in the path of dutiful investigation by the security agencies.”

awodman:
Your hypocrisy knows no bounds.its on record on this forum that you posted that GEJ shud tk action against these guys.Even when some posters brought your attention to how crude that action might be ,you stuck to your guns.Now here you are crying wolf when the same action has been taken

take dat: Will you STFU! My opinion hasn't changed, but in taking such action the rule of law must be adhered to, which is instituting legal proceedings against them instead of unlawful detention.

take dat: I am sure you do not have comprehension problems. Forgery/ document falsification is a crime against the state, one would have expected ARRESTS and CLAMPDOWN ON THE MEDIA HOUSE BY THE SECURITY AGENCIES NOW, if truly the document purported to have emanated from the presidency is fake. Remember that we are not talking of a blog or an online news outlet with no reputation to protect. This government is hopeless if it can condone such criminality except the government itself is guilty!

awodman:

Now,this your comment on the earlier trade about this same issue,


I leave it to fellow nairalanders to judge like I said your HYPOCRISY

awodman:

Now,this your comment on the earlier trade about this same issue,


I leave it to fellow nairalanders to judge like I said your HYPOCRISY

awodman:
Your hypocrisy knows no bounds.its on record on this forum that you posted that GEJ shud tk action against these guys.Even when some posters brought your attention to how crude that action might be ,you stuck to your guns.Now here you are crying wolf when the same action has been taken