(MRA/IFEX) – On 23 December 2005, two journalists with the privately-owned radio station Rhythm 93.7 FM, in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State in the Niger Delta region, were arraigned before a Port Harcourt High Court on charges of broadcasting “false information” and remanded in custody until 3 January 2006. Klem Ofuokwu, the station’s news […]
(MRA/IFEX) – On 23 December 2005, two journalists with the privately-owned radio station Rhythm 93.7 FM, in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State in the Niger Delta region, were arraigned before a Port Harcourt High Court on charges of broadcasting “false information” and remanded in custody until 3 January 2006.
Klem Ofuokwu, the station’s news editor, and Cleopatra Taiwo, a news presenter, were reportedly arrested by agents of the State Security Service (SSS), Nigeria’s intelligence service, on 19 December and have been detained since then. Their detention was in response to a report aired on the radio station on 17 December, claiming that the Choba Bridge on the outskirts of the city had collapsed and trapped seven vehicles. The report, apparently based on telephone calls from unnamed sources, later proved to be incorrect.
Following the report, armed policemen and SSS agents shut down the radio station on 17 December and arrested David Obi, news director, and Loknan Dombim, programme manager, both of whom were detained overnight and released the next day. The station was also re-opened hours later, but Ofuokwu and Taiwo were subsequently arrested.
Although the management of Rhythm 93.7 FM initially denied airing the report, on 19 December Roy Murray-Bruce, president of Silverbird Communications, owner of the radio station, apologized to the police and the Rivers State government over the story.
In a statement issued in Lagos, Murray-Bruce said that, after a thorough in-house investigation, it was discovered that, although staff initially denied it, his station actually had aired the controversial story. He assured the police and Rivers State Governor Peter Odili that those responsible would be punished.
Obviously dissatisfied with the station’s retraction, apology and promise of disciplinary action against those responsible, the state government decided to initiate criminal proceedings against Ofuokwu and Taiwo for alleged false reporting.
In a two-count charge against the journalists and others said to be at large, the government is alleging that they conspired among themselves to publish and disseminate, through the medium of a radio broadcast, a false news item with intent to cause fear and alarm to the public or to disturb public peace and thereby committed an offence contrary to Sections 516(A) and 59(1) of the Criminal Code of Rivers State.
Each of the counts carries a penalty of three years’ imprisonment.
After the charges were read to the journalists, their lawyer, Ken Atsuwete, requested that they be granted bail pending their trial. The state’s director of public prosecutions, R.N. Godwin, opposed the request and asked the judge to remand them in custody.
The judge ordered that they should be remanded in custody until 3 January 2006, when he will decide whether to grant them bail pending their trial.
