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Nigeria’s Intelligence
Agency Raid another Newspaper House
Barely 24 hours after the raid on the
Leadership newspaper, Nigeria’s intelligence police, the State Security
Service (SSS), on January 10, 2007 raided the offices of Abuja Inquirer,
a weekly newspaper published in the Federal Capital Territory. They
sealed off the premises of the media house, held people hostage and
ransacked the offices for three hours. At the end of their search, they
arrested its editor-in-chief, Mr. Dan Akpovwa; and the general editor,
Mr. Sonde Abbah.
They also confiscated and took away 81
CDs, one CPU, a copy of the staff list, a photocopy of its registration
certificate issued by the Corporate Affairs Commission, 18 copies of the
current edition and seven copies of past editions of the newspaper.
During the siege, all members of staff
were forced into the newsroom and held hostage alongside visitors which
included five journalists from different media outfits: two from Vision
FM Abuja, one from The Guardian newspaper, another from Vanguard
newspaper, as well as a freelance reporter. The legal adviser of the
media house, Mr. B. R. Offiong, and his colleague, Akpama Ekwe were also
held captive during the siege.
The SSS operatives, who numbered 16,
came in three cars: a Peugeot 406 (light brown) with registration number
AV 750 KWL, a white Toyota Eco with registration number AS 668 ABJ, and
a Peugeot station wagon. They said they were there because of the
newspaper’s lead story published in its January 8-14 edition, titled:
“Obasanjo-Atiku Face-Off: Coup Fear Grips Nigeria”, which they alleged
was seditious.
An assistant commissioner, who simply
identified himself as Mr. Barry, who led the raid brandished a search
warrant allegedly signed by a chief magistrate in the Federal Capital
Territory bearing the name ‘… Ajoke’, whose surname was made illegible
by stamp ink.
In a telephone
interview with Media Rights Agenda, Mr. Emmanuel Ogbeche, “Abuja
Inquirer’” Deputy News Editor and Head of Political Desk, confirmed the
raid and disclosed that the men were still being detained and that no
one has allowed access to any of them.
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