The Arrest, Detention of Journalist in Taraba
Notes for File
The difficulty in practising journalism in Nigeria again came to the fore last week when news filtered in that the publisher of Taraba Truth and Facts newspaper and the Chief Executive Officer of Rock FM 92.3 in Jalingo, Taraba State, Ayodele Samuel Oloye, had been remanded on the orders of the Taraba State government.
The state government was said to be angry with some reports by the newspaper, particularly where it stated that Governor Darius Ishaku had planned to sell the Taraba liaison office, and possibly the state-owned Mambilla Beverages Company.
When Oloye got wind of the governor’s plan to arrest him, he promptly released a statement to his colleagues on September 30.
But this did not deter the state government from arresting him hours after. He was secretly arraigned before a magistrates’ court without due process and legal representation and thereafter remanded in prison. He has since remained in solitary confinement without access to his lawyers, family members, food and friends.
As if that is not enough, a statement by a human rights activist, Bako Benjamin, alleged that Governor Ishaku is planning to woo the state House of Assembly members to enact a law that would indict Oloye within the state’s jurisdiction and further repress the press and intimidate journalists.
Benjamin lamented that there was a deteriorating climate of rights abuses, corruption and poor governance ongoing in the state and the need to beam searchlights into the activities of the outgoing governor.
Last week, Oloye’s wife, Mercy, pleaded with the governor to direct the release of her husband unconditionally, saying his absence was tolling on the family. But this has fallen on deaf ears.
Ayodele was simply discharging his constitutional obligation to the society, and Governor Ishaku has no reason to arrest, detain or subject him to any form of hardship.
It is high time state governors desist from treating journalists as endangered species in Nigeria.
Governor Ishaku should therefore release him without any further delay.
