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Broadcast Journalist
Arrested, Detained, and Released
On 14 March 2006, Mr. Segun Owolabi, a senior news officer with Rhythm 93
FM in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital in the Niger delta was
arrested by men suspected to be officers of the State Security Service (SSS),
Nigeria’s intelligence Police, and detained overnight before being
released in the afternoon of March 15.
Mr. Owolabi was detained at the SSS Headquarters at Forces Avenue in Port
Harcourt for airing a news item on the radio station about a planned
peaceful protest against the Port Harcourt District of the Power Holding
Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Nigeria’s electricity generating and
distribution behemoth. A non-governmental organization called Directory of
Nigeria, organized the protest to draw the attention of residents of Port
Harcourt to the worsening power situation in the state.
The news item in question was aired on March 13 which reportedly led to
some senior management staff of PHCN reporting to the station of being
used to cause a breach of peace and to incite the public to vandalise its
facilities. Following the complain, some plain-clothed operatives of the
agency stormed the station and arrested Mr. Owolabi.
He disclosed that he was asked to make a statement on the broadcast and
warned to refrain from doing anything that could jeopardise peace in the
state. He added: “I was put inside a cell from 4pm on Tuesday [March 14]
till this afternoon [March 15] when I was released”.
His release followed the intervention of the Rivers State Commissioner for
Information, Mr. Magnus Abe, and the Chief Press Secretary to the Rivers
State Governor, Mr. Emma Okah, who pleaded with the state Director of the
SSS, Alhaji Kolawole Adesina, to release him.
This is the third time journalists of Rhythm 93 FM, Port Harcourt will be
guests of security agencies in recent times in the city.
On December 23, 2005, Klem Ofuokwu, a reporter, and Cleopatra Tawo, a news
presenter, of the same station were arrested by agents of the SSS in Port
Harcourt. They were later arraigned before a Port Harcourt High Court on
charges of broadcasting false information and ordered remanded in prison
custody until 3 January 2006.
On January 3, 2006, they were released on bail and the management of the
station sacked both of them to pacify the state government.
Earlier, on December 17, 2005, armed policemen and agents of the SSS shut
down the station and arrested David Obi, Head of News, and Loknan Dombim,
Programmes Manager, whom they detained overnight. The station, which was
re-opened hours after it was shut, was accused of broadcasting false
information, in which it alleged that the Choba Bridge on the outskirts of
the city had collapsed which caused panic among residents. The bridge is
did not collapse. |
