On Wednesday, 19th October, 2022, The PUNCH Newspaper published a news story titled “Journalists detained for defaming Kwara gov get bail”, where it was claimed that the two (2) Kwara based journalist brothers were brought to court on Wednesday unchained.

It could be recalled that the Akoguns had been detained in police custody and later remanded at the Nigeria Correctional Services medium facility, Mandala, Kwara State.

The PUNCH report by its Kwara correspondent, Tunde Oyekola, said “The detained journalists were brought to court unchained around 10:15 am with sympathisers, colleagues and family members flooding the court premises.”

However, according to The Informant247 firsthand ,report, the two journalists were brought to the court around 10:15am chained with handcuffs. Our reporter who was at the court took pictures upon the arrival of the two (2) journalists at the Ilorin Magistrate Court.

The pictures which were widely used by other local and national online media showed that the two journalists were handcuffed while being led into the court premises by security operatives in a civil case of defamation and libel.

Verdict

False. The two journalists were brought to court chained with handcuffs.

The PUNCH claim is false.

This report was produced by The Informant247 Fact Check team.