MEDIA Rights Agenda (MRA) has condemned the incessant harassment and intimidation of journalists by Nigerian security agents, especially the police.
The MRA in a statement by its communications officer, Idowu Adewale, on Monday, August 26, said recent incidents of abductions, arbitrary arrests, detention and other forms of attacks against media professionals by security and law enforcement agents had reached alarming levels and are posing a grave danger to media freedom and democracy in the country.
The MRA cited recent incidents, including cases of Ayomide Eweje, Wisdom Okezie, and Oluwamodupe Akinola summoned recently by the police to report to the assistant inspector-general of the police office in Lagos on August 27, 2024, for an unspecified investigation.
The group said the three journalists received separate letters on August 22, 2024, from the deputy commissioner of police, Martin Nwogoh, acting on behalf of the AIG of Zone 2 Nigeria Police headquarters.
According to MRA, letters issued by the police failed to provide essential details regarding the investigation, including the nature of the matter, the identity of the complainant, and the specific information required from the invitees.
It added that the lack of clarity and transparency hinders their invitees’ ability to prepare effectively for the investigation, raising concerns about the fairness and legitimacy of the process.
The deputy police commissioner asked Eweje, Okezie and Akinola to report to the officer in charge of the Zonal Monitoring Unit, stressing that “this is a fact-finding exercise in the interest of justice and fairness.”
According to the head of the MRA Legal Department, Lagos State, Obioma Okonkwo, the police failure to provide details in the letter of invitation was an ambush, adding that it had identified a pattern in numerous such invitations by the police designed to lure journalists to the police station only to detain them when they report in response to the supposed invitation.
“It was curious that the police had become the weapon of choice for public officials and other rich or powerful individuals seeking to silence and punish journalists who publish negative reports about them.
“It seems that the police now consider journalism a crime such that anybody who is unhappy about any report published by the media can get the police to hunt down any journalist involved with uncommon zeal even as real criminals go about their business unchallenged for the most part,” Okonkwo stated.
Okonkwo pointed out that when the police receive complaints about media reports, they often claim to be investigating the matter as a pretext to summon, detain, or prosecute journalists while in reality, no genuine investigation is conducted to verify the accuracy of the reported stories.
She urged the inspector-general of police, (IGP )Kayode Egbetokun, to take action to prevent the misuse of police powers, noting that the lack of accountability has created a culture of impunity, emboldening officers to harass journalists with no fear of consequences, leading to a surge in unjustifiable attacks on the media.
A reporter with the ICIR
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