THE Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has released a journalist and publisher of Cross River Watch, Agba Jalingo, on bail.
Jalingo announced his release through a post via his Facebook handle.
“Police grant Agba Jalingo bail after hiding him for hours. Released to a relative who signed his bail bond and was asked to report back at the Abattoir police station on Monday morning,” the post read.
The journalist had been arrested on Friday in Lagos by security operatives who laid siege to his residence for hours and transported him to Abuja after his arrest.
The FCT Police Command confirmed his detention in a statement on Saturday night.
A petition by Elizabeth Ayade, sister-in-law to Cross River State governor Ben Ayade, led to Jalingo’s arrest.
According to a report by Cross River Watch, Elizabeth Ayade claimed that Jalingo wrote a defamatory article about her and demanded N500 million as compensation.
The journalist had reported that a law lecturer at the University of Calabar being tried by a court in Abuja for examination malpractice had been sitting exams for a “prominent Obudu woman”.
Jalingo was arrested in 2019 and detained for 179 days over allegations of terrorism, treasonable felony and attempts to overthrow that government.
The allegations were levelled against him by the Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade.
Jalingo was also arrested in 2021 by officials of the Cross River State Police Command over a planned June 12 protest.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.