(CJFE/IFEX) – CJFE has received confirmation that Akina Deesor (whose first name has also been reported as Okina), a producer with Radio Rivers who was reported missing since his detention in August 1996, was released on 12 February 1997, having spent seven months in detention. Though rumours of his release had earlier circulated, his whereabouts […]
(CJFE/IFEX) – CJFE has received confirmation that Akina Deesor (whose first
name has also been reported as Okina), a producer with Radio Rivers who was
reported missing since his detention in August 1996, was released on 12
February 1997, having spent seven months in detention. Though rumours of his
release had earlier circulated, his whereabouts had remained unknown until
recently.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 14 October, 28 September, 7 August and 2 July 1998,
19 December, 5 November and 23 August 1996**
In a recent interview with Lagos-based “Media Monitor”, Deesor explained
that after his release, he returned to the radio station offices to seek
reinstatement. Though at first it appeared that he would be reinstated with
full compensation, the station’s general manager told him some three weeks
later that he had received instructions from authorities that Deesor was not
to be allowed into the radio station’s offices. Deesor attributes the
decision to the same army commander who had ordered his arrest in 1996, Obi
Umahi. Deesor received no letter stating that he had been suspended or was
wanted for any offence. In a protest letter to the management of Radio
Rivers, he demanded to know what offence he was guilty of, but no
explanation was offered for this sudden reversal.
In the same “Media Monitor” interview, Deesor explained that while in
detention, he was flogged and often denied any food.
On 29 December 1998, he was invited back to the radio house to be given a
letter of reinstatement. Deesor maintains that the radio station did all it
could to help him through his ordeal. “Even from the start, they were very
friendly. My survival up to today is largely because of their understanding.
I thank them for that. They had wanted to help me, but it was that
instruction from the powers above that caused a little bit of distance
between me and them. Since I came back, we have been very friendly, from the
General Manager to everybody up to the cleaner. To them, I’m like a lost
shepherd, a lost sheep among them.”
In the letter, Radio Rivers management explained to Deesor that in a
November 1998 meeting they had discussed his situation, and that in line
with the national reconciliation efforts of the present administration of
General Abdulsalami Abubakar, his reinstatement took effect on 1 December
1998.
Background Information
Akina Deesor, a producer with Radio Rivers, was arrested and detained by
security agents in 1996 for playing Ogoni music on the radio. It was alleged
that during one of his radio programmes called “Ilisor” (Ogoni programme in
Ogoni language), he had played music that was connected to MOSOP (Movement
for the Survival of Ogoni People) – music that was often played in the
heyday of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa. Despite Deesor’s denial that such music
was played, and the intervention of Radio Rivers’ then general manager, the
commander of the Rivers State Security Task Force took him into detention.
