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Newspaper Publisher Arrested Over Report On Police Commissioner
On 19 January 2005, the Rivers State Police Command
arrested Jerry Needam, publisher of a Port Harcourt based weekly tabloid,
the "National Network" newspaper, for publishing reports considered
negative to the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Sylvester Araba.
A team of policemen picked up Needam, publisher of
the newly established newspaper, in the morning as he arrived at his
office in Port Harcourt. Needam is also a former Special Assistant to the
Rivers State Information Commissioner.
Although the police did not give formal reasons for
his arrest, reports quoted a senior police officer as saying that the
command was angered by a report in the newspaper portraying the commission
in bad light.
Both Needam and Araba returned from Israel the
previous week where they were sponsored by the Rivers State Government for
the annual pilgrimage to the holy land. On his return, Needam published a
story on the front page of his newspaper that the police commissioner
slumped while climbing Mount Sinai. The newspaper described Araba's
collapse as mysterious since he had been certified fit by doctors before
embarking on the journey. The newspaper also reported that a senior Rivers
State Government House official also collapsed in Jerusalem while many
others engaged in amorous acts in the holy land.
Prior to Needam's arrest, the newspaper had run a
promo in the newspaper promising to publish "dirty deals" embarked upon by
government officials while in Israel in the next edition.
Needam was released at about 6.00pm on the same day
following the intervention of journalists and some Rivers State Government
officials. Reports said he was released shortly after the Rivers State
Government asked Araba to free him, warning that the arrest of Needam
could create problems for the police and was embarrassing to the
administration.
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