By Uthman SAMAD
THE Publisher of Cross RiverWatch, Agba Jalingo has said that he would be resuming his journalism career from where he stopped before being arrested by the Nigeria’s secret police on the order of Cross Rivers State Governor, Ben Ayade.
“So eventually, I am back home, and you know what? I am back home to start from where I stopped,” Jalingo said in a video posted on Twitter by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) on Tuesday.
“As I am talking to you, I reported again five minutes ago about what Ayade is doing with the local government funds. I am not going to stop what I am doing, there is nothing that will stop me from doing what I am doing. It is not possible.”
This is the first time he would be making any public statement after his release since February. Jalingo was speaking in Lagos during an interactive Session on Promoting Media Freedom of Expression in Nigeria organized by SERAP), a non-governmental organisation advocating for good governance in the country.
This is coming after Justice Sule Shuaibu of the Federal High Court, Calabar Division on February 17, granted bail to Agba Jalingo, in the sum of N10million with one surety in like sum after spending 174 days in detention.
It could be recalled that Agba Jalingo was first arrested in August 2019 and charged with disturbance of public peace and treason.
This followed a report written by Jalingo and published in July 2019 with the headline “How Ayade Approved And Diverted N500million For Cross River Micro-Finance Bank” on his news website: CrossRiverWatch.
The report questioned the governor on how he spent the approved N500million released for the Cross River State Micro-Finance Bank.
Before jalingo was freed, several groups both locally and internationally called for his release even as Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience.
Samad Uthman is a multimedia journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. He tweets @sarmerdk2 and can be shot through [email protected]