(MRA/IFEX) – On 22 June 2005, the chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists’ (NUJ) Kogi State branch, Segun Omolehin, was arrested by police in Lokoja, the state capital, after he honoured their invitation to a meeting to resolve a lingering crisis between the police and journalists in the state. Omolehin’s arrest is the latest […]
(MRA/IFEX) – On 22 June 2005, the chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists’ (NUJ) Kogi State branch, Segun Omolehin, was arrested by police in Lokoja, the state capital, after he honoured their invitation to a meeting to resolve a lingering crisis between the police and journalists in the state.
Omolehin’s arrest is the latest incident in the harassment of journalists launched by the State Police Command since 20 June following stories published by the correspondents of three newspapers regarding an encounter between Kogi Police Commissioner Thomas Bamidele and armed robbers.
The three dailies – “The Vanguard”, “The Nigerian Tribune”, and “Daily Times” – reported that Bamidele who was dressed in civilian clothes and driving a private car, ran into armed bandits on 18 June along a highway linking Lokoja to the neighbouring town of Okene, and was allegedly subjected to physical abuse by the robbers, who forced him to do frog-jumps along with other victims of the robbery incident.
Angered by the reports, a detachment of regular policemen and agents of the State Security Service (SSS) in Kogi occupied the NUJ state secretariat on 20 June in an effort to find and arrest the journalists who had written the reports. The police have not denied that the incident occurred.
Since taking over the NUJ secretariat, the security agents have been harassing and intimidating journalists entering the premises. An unspecified number of journalists are reported to have been arrested in the process. This resulted in a face-off between the journalists in the state and the police.
NUJ Kogi branch secretary Bartholomew Ademu said in a statement on 22 June that Omolehin was invited by the police commissioner to a meeting to find ways of resolving the dispute, but was arrested instead when he went to the state police headquarters to honour the invitation. He has remained in police custody since then.
