The Nigeria Police on Thursday told the public they were detaining PREMIUM TIMES’ journalist, Samuel Ogundipe, over documents, they considered as ‘classified’ which the journalist used to publish a story.
Although the police did not say the report was fake, Ogundipe has been in their detention since Tuesday, following the report he published on the invasion of the National Assembly by armed men of the Department of Security Services DSS on August 7. The police insist they want to know how the journalist got the classified documents.
The editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Musikilu Mojeed, and education reporter, Azeezat Adedigba, were also detained by the police on Tuesday. They were however released later.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, said this during a protest staged by various groups, which demanded the release of the detained reporter at the Force Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
The groups, including Action Aid, Enough is Enough, Socialist Party of Nigeria, and Education Rights Campaign participated in the protest demanding that the journalist be freed.
While addressing the protesters, Moshood said ,“We are not saying tell us the source of your story, we are saying tell us where the document emanates from,” he said.
The police had mounted immense pressure on Ogundipe to divulge his source for the story which revealed a report sent to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo by the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, in which Idris indicted the former director general of the State Security Service, Lawal Daura, for the condemnable August 7 DSS siege on the the Senate.
Moshood further accused Ogundipe of “theft of classified documents” used in writing the story adding that the reporter was arrested and arraigned in line with constitutional provision.
Ogundipe was arraigned on Wednesday at a Magistrate court in Kubwa. He was denied legal representation despite insisting he wanted one.
Moshood later issued a statement on Thursday, after the protests, saying “It is factual to state that Samuel Ogundipe was arrested on the 14th of August, 2018 and on completion of preliminary Investigation, he was arraigned in a court of competent jurisdiction in the FCT in less than Twenty Four (24) Hours of his arrest. He was remanded to Police custody and the case was adjourned to Monday, 20th August, 2018,” he said in the statement.
“Mr. Samuel Ogundipe is also being investigated and prosecuted under other offences which violate Official Secret Act, Cyber Crime Act, and the Penal Code Law for which he has volunteered statements and is standing trial,”
Moshood also averred that Nigeria’s Freedom of Information Act does not protect providing such information to the public.
“Even the FOI Act limits access to classified information. The matter is already before the court and as a Nigerian he has the right to defend himself. But where a document that is classified goes out, we also have a duty to ask how it was leaked,” Moshood said.
“What has happened will be investigated and we will take appropriate action and you (the media) will be involved.
He denied that the IGP ordered the arrest of Ogundipe saying “At all, the order didn’t come from the IG. People should disabuse their minds that the IGP ordered for his arrest,” the police spokesperson said.
Moshood also denied knowing that Ogundipe was denied the opportunity of being represented by his lawyer.
He said.“Do you have his lawyer here? I am not aware that he was denied access to his lawyer and the court didn’t know he is a journalist.
“I was not the prosecutor, I was not the investigator but I will go and get the fact from them. If the lawyer was not informed, me I don’t know. You’re just telling me.
“If his lawyer is here, he can follow me so that we can meet the investigator. Everybody taken to court has a right to a lawyer,” he said.
He claimed that Ogundipe’s bank account was frozen “because it’s part of the investigation process.”
Co -covener of Our Mumu Done Do, Deji Adeyanju, who was one of the protesters, condemned detention of the journalist, saying “This is a deliberate attempt to frustrate Samuel and other journalists. This is not just bad for the image of the country, it is bad for the image of the police and it is bad for the image of this government.
“Samuel Ogundipe is a Nigerian. He’s one of us. If this can happen to Samuel, it can happen to any other journalist.
“This whole idea of forcing a journalist to reveal his source by the police is wrong. The constitution is very clear. The court has ruled that the police or any other security agency cannot compel a journalist to reveal his source even if they want to torture him to a point of death,” he said.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
