ActionAid Nigeria has strongly condemned the arrest of the publisher of Premium Times, Mr Dapo Olorunyomi and judiciary correspondent, Evelyn Okakwu. The anti-poverty agency describes the arrest as intimidation and attempt at undermining press freedom and the principles of democracy.
According to the Country Director, Ojobo Ode Atuluku, “the arrest of the publisher by the Nigerian police is an unwelcome development; such acts undermine press freedom and Nigeria’s hard earned democracy”.
She further noted, “Nigeria is not a police state, so journalists should not be persecuted for executing their responsibility of informing and educating the public. The Freedom of Information Act (FOI) allows citizens access to public records and information held by public officials or institutions. It empowers the press to discharge its duty fairly and truthfully and the government has the responsibility of upholding the law and promoting democracy without any form of press bullying.
If any media organisation has published any information that is not true, relevant authorities should seek civil ways of dealing with such issues, she said.
ActionAid Nigeria is calling on the Nigerian Police and other federal and state security agents to refrain from arresting journalists who are fulfilling their constitutional obligation as enshrined in Section 22 of Nigeria Constitution which makes it obligatory for the media to hold to account public office holders.
Atuluku who described Olorunyomi as “one of the courageous journalists who made enormous sacrifice for the country to attain civil rule” warned that “the continued infringement on freedom of the media is detrimental to our democracy and is a dangerous walk back to the dark days of the 1990s in which security operatives themselves became vulnerable to the most dreadful form of dictatorship
ActionAid is a global justice Federation working to achieve social justice, gender equality and poverty eradication. Throughout the world, ActionAid works to strengthen the capacity and active agency of people living in poverty and exclusion, especially women, to assert their rights. We work directly with communities, with people’s organisations, women’s movements, groups and networks, social movements and other allies to overcome the structural causes and consequences of poverty and injustice.
