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Newspaper
Publisher Alleges Threat to His Life, Later Arrested and Charged
On 11 April 2006, Alfred Egbegi, publisher of a privately-owned weekly
newspaper "Izon Link" based in Yenogoa, the Bayelsa State capital in the
Niger-Delta region of Nigeria, expressed fear that his life may be in
danger as officials of the state government and security operatives were
trailing him over a story published in the current edition of the
newspaper. He was later arrested, detained and charged to court.
The story, published in the Volume 7, Number 8 edition of the newspaper,
carried the headline "Ebebi cries out: Jonathan is stabbing me". The
story alleged political intrigues between the state governor and his
deputy over who would govern the state after the 2007 general elections.
Egbegi said since 10 April 2006, when the newspaper hit the newsstands, he
had been receiving anonymous phone calls threatening to deal with him for
embarrassing the governor and his deputy. He added that other journalists
critical of the government of the state were also being targeted by agents
of the state government and that some of them had been marked for arrest.
However, the press secretary to the deputy governor, Mr. Charles Tambou,
in a telephone interview, denied that the government was planning to
arrest Egbegi, saying it was normal for people to express displeasure over
negative newspaper publications but that such displeasure did not warrant
harassing, arresting or intimidating journalists.
But Egbegi said he reported the threats to the Nigerian Police and the
State Security Service (SSS) Nigeria's intelligence service.
On 12 April, Alfred Egbegi was arrested by the Police in Yenogoa, the
Bayelsa State capital.
Egbegi was arrested at about 12.45 pm (local time) by policemen from the
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) who trailed him to an office in
Emmanuel Otitio Road in Yenogoa with the assistance of his printer,
Olatubosun Isaac, who was arrested an hour earlier and forced to reveal
the publishers whereabouts.
Issac was arrested at about 12 noon, along with Esther Bekeowei, a
secretary in the newspaper's office on Azikoro Road in Yenogoa. Isaac and
Bekeowei were both taken to the state CID office where they were detained.
Egbegi was arrested by five police officers led by an assistant
superintendent of police, Alex Akhigbe. He was driven away in a grey
Peugeot 504 salon car with registration number NPF 4667 B
The publisher, who had been on the run since 10 April, reportedly shouted
while being arrested that Mr. Charles Tambou, the press secretary to the
deputy governor of the state, should be held responsible for his arrest.
He said: "He (Tambou) has been threatening to cripple my business. I
stand by my story. Let him either refute it or go to court. They have
planned to arrest more journalists."
But the State Police Commissioner, Mr. Hafiz Ringim confirmed on 12 April
that Egbegi was arrested "based on a petition from the State government",
adding that after investigations, he might be charged to court.
Alfred Egbegi was released on bail in the evening of 12 April, hours after
his arrest and detention, but was charged by the Police before a
Magistrate's Court in Yenogoa the next day, 13 April, on eight counts of
conducting himself in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace in
"Charge Number YMC/163/C/2006: Commissioner of Police versus Alfred Egbebi."
Further hearing in the trial was been postponed to 20 April 2006.
Tambou said in a statement issued in Yenagoa on April 13 that "The era
when the press is treated with kid gloves is over, as the law will be made
to take its course."
Following the publication of a story about Egbegi's arrest in the
privately-owned national newspaper, "The Punch" on 12 April, the deputy
governor is alleged to have threatened to beat up the newspaper's
correspondent in the state, Bisi Olaniyi.
Olaniyi said the deputy governor shouted at him: "Look, I don't care. I
will beat you up. I don't have time to report you to anybody. I will
handle the case myself and thoroughly deal with you."
But Tambou has denied that the deputy governor made any such threat,
saying the deputy governor "only talked to him (the correspondent)
verbally."
Accusing "The Punch" correspondent of not reporting the event objectively,
Tambou said: "If any journalist behaves irresponsibly, we go to court.
That is why we have taken that journalist to court."
The press secretary also denied that there was any rift between the
governor and his deputy, alleging that Olaniyi and Egbegi were sponsored
by a political opponent in the state to cause trouble between Jonathan and
his deputy.
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