Police Invite Premium Times Reporter as Newspaper Demands Details of Alleged Offence

•Journalist summoned over yet-to-be-published story

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Premium Times, one of Nigeria’s online newspapers, has demanded the details of the alleged offence committed by its reporter, Emmanuel Agbo, after the police in Abuja invited him for questioning.

In a statement yesterday, the media organisation stated that merely summoning its employee without giving the reason for his invitation will deny him of the chance to fully prepare and take along any needed documents.

“We are thus always ready to assist law enforcement agencies in the course of their professional duties. However, in your letter to Mr Emmanuel Agbo, you only stated that your ‘office is in receipt of petition…’ but did not provide any details of the petition.

“We ask that you provide more details of the petition to enable our reporter, Mr Agbo, to make adequate preparations and bring along relevant materials when he appears in your office.

“We trust that you will treat this promptly so we and Mr Emmanuel Agbo can prepare adequately and assist you in the course of your work. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or clarifications,” Premium Times’ Managing Editor, Idris Akinbajo, wrote in response to the invite.

It stated that Agbo had received an invitation letter dated  May 31 from the office of the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Intelligence Response Team (NPF-IRT), Abuja via WhatsApp on Monday.

The police, Premium Times said, sent the letter after Agbo requested a formal invitation instead of their initial invitation via phone call.

 Agbo was first contacted over the telephone on 30 May by a man who identified himself as a police officer named Ezemba Ezekiel. The man requested the journalist to come over to the office of the police’s Intelligence Response Team (NPF-IRT) in Guzape, Abuja.

“I am Ezemba Ezekiel from the Intelligence Response Team. I am calling you on behalf of Homadils. You are expected to come over to our office at Abattoir in Guzape to clarify a petition,” he said via phone call.

Since the policeman mentioned Homadils, Premium Times said it might be connected to a story that the reporter is currently working on, but stated that its employee needed additional information before appearing before the security personnel.

The firm, Homadils Realty Limited, referenced by the police officer in the phone conversation, Premium Times said, is a land developer and major party to a land dispute which Agbo’s planned story is focusing on.

The police invitation was said to have come after Agbo reached out to the Chief Executive Officer of Homadils, Bilkisu Aliu, over the phone, with Agbo and Aliu further exchanging messages on WhatsApp where she shared with the the journalist her reactions to allegations levelled against her by a family laying claim to the land in dispute.

After the phone call with the policeman on Monday,  Agbo was said to have asked Ezekiel, the police officer who initiated the phone call, to make the police invitation formal by writing to him through Premium Times.

Following this request, Ezekiel, it said,sent an invitation letter dated May 31 to Agbo via WhatsApp on Monday, with the invitation from the IRT only stating that  Agbo’s name was in a petition without giving any details.

It further requested the Premium Times journalist to appear on Wednesday, 5 June, at 2 p.m. at the IRT Complex, Old Abattoir by Guzape Junction, Abuja.

“We have received a letter from you to our reporter, Agbo Emmanuel, in which you invited him to appear before you on 05/06/2024 at your office at ‘IRT Complex, Old Abbatoir by Guzape Junction, Abuja’.

“We received the letter today, 03-06-2024, although it is dated 31-05-2024,” the Managing Editor of Premium Times,  Akinbajo, added in the letter delivered to the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, IRT, on Monday.

Based on the interaction with the police officer who first invited Agbo through a phone call, Premium Times hinted that the police invitation has to do with a dispute involving Homadils Realty Limited and a family over a piece of land in Guzape, a choice area of Abuja

The dispute, it said, had thrown up allegations of document falsifications which, it said it learnt, are being investigated by the Federal Capital Development Authority.

In recent rimes there has been an upsurge in the cases of police targeting journalists for doing their legitimate work in Nigeria, detaining the Executive Director of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Dayo Aiyetan, and an investigative journalist with the platform, Nurudeen Akewushola, for over nine hours.

Also, Daniel Ojukwu, a journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) was recently picked up by the police, spending several days before he was released.