(IJC/IFEX) – The Kaduna State correspondent of “The NEWS” and “TEMPO” magazines, Henry Ugbolue, was arrested on 10 October 1997 by Security operatives attached to the Government House, Kaduna. Ugbolue was arrested on a street in the capital, Kaduna, severely beaten and taken to the Government House and further tortured. He was released in the […]
(IJC/IFEX) – The Kaduna State correspondent of “The NEWS” and
“TEMPO” magazines, Henry Ugbolue, was arrested on 10 October 1997
by Security operatives attached to the Government House, Kaduna.
Ugbolue was arrested on a street in the capital, Kaduna, severely
beaten and taken to the Government House and further tortured. He
was released in the evening of the same day and asked to report
to the Government House every day. He is now receiving treatment
at a private hospital in Kaduna for injuries inflicted on him by
the security agents.
Ugbolue’s arrest, torture and detention was over a story entitled
“Goodbye Justice” which he wrote for the 8 October edition of
“TEMPO”. In the story, Ugbolue reported the sacking of 30,000
government workers by Lt. Col. Hamed Ali, the military
administrator of Kaduna State.
Elsewhere, Tenkum Kokoh of “The Democrat” and Folu Oyewusi of the
“Daily Sketch” were arrested and detained by police in Makurdi,
capital of Benue state on 1 October. The two journalists were
conducting a seminar on the topic “Nigeria ’98 and the Principles
of Rotational Presidency”, to mark the 37th anniversary of
Nigeria’s independence, when they were called in to meet with the
police. Both Kokoh and Oyewusi arrived only to be arrested and
detained. A police spokesman in Benue State simply said the two
journalists are being held on “security matters.”
