(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed shock over the abuse of authority displayed by the wives of President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria in assailing and imprisoning journalists in separate incidents on 2 May 2005, in response to critical press reports. “We are stunned that the presidents’ wives went so far […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed shock over the abuse of authority displayed by the wives of President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria in assailing and imprisoning journalists in separate incidents on 2 May 2005, in response to critical press reports.
“We are stunned that the presidents’ wives went so far just to seek personal revenge. We therefore call on [Kenyan First Lady] Lucy Kibaki to apologise to the cameraman she hit, and we call on [Nigerian First Lady] Stella Obasanjo to have the ‘Midwest Herald”s publisher released from prison immediately, as such meddling harms the image of their respective countries,” RSF said.
In Nairobi, Kibaki went to the premises of the Nation Media Group, Kenya’s largest press group, shortly before midnight on 2 May with six bodyguards and Nairobi Police Chief Kingori Mwangi. They spent five hours in the offices of the daily “The Nation”, complaining about “unfair” reports. Uttering insults, she had all of the journalists’ cameras, notebooks and mobile phones confiscated and swore that she would not leave until the authors of the offending articles were arrested.
Kibaki also assaulted Kenya Television Network cameraman Clifford Derrick, who had been filming the scene. She slapped him and tried unsuccessfully to take his camera from him.
In their 2 May editions, several newspapers, including “The Nation” and “The Standard”, had reported that Kibaki had tried to put a stop to a farewell party for Makhtar Diop, the World Bank’s representative in Kenya, on the night of 29 April, because of noise that was coming from the party.
A report entitled, “Shame of First Lady”, published in “The Standard”, a rival of “The Nation”, said that after failing to get the party stopped, Kibaki went personally to the Muthaiga police station to file a complaint against Diop. The report described her as being “lightly attired” at the time.
In a separate incident in Nigeria, Omo-Ojo Orobosa, the publisher of the Lagos-based “Midwest Herald”, was arrested on First Lady Obasanjo’s orders when security forces, led by Inspector Sunday Owolabi, of the Ondo state police department, burst into the newspaper’s office at 10:30 a.m. (local time) on 2 May and occupied it for one hour, until Orobosa was taken to Akure prison. His arrest was prompted by an article about the first lady entitled, “Greedy Stella” (see IFEX alert of 5 May 2005)
Meanwhile, President Obasanjo, who is also the current African Union chairman, went to Dakar to attend a UNESCO summit on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day.
