Three journalists have sued the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, at a Delta State High Court sitting in Oto-Udu, Udu local government area of Delta State over there arrest and detention by operatives of the IGP Monitoring Unit in May 2020 at the Police Area Command in Warri, Delta State.
Joined as respondents in the suit are DCP Abba Kyari (O/C IGP Monitoring Unit, Abuja) and Detective Reuben Noah.
The journalists: Matthew Omonigho, Daily Post Correspondent; Onyekachukwu Meluwa, The Punch Correspondent and Christopher Odamah, Delta Trumpet Correspondent, among the five journalists who were arrested and detained,are asking for the sum of N10million as damages against the respondents jointly and severally.
They are also seeking an order from the court directing the respondents to tender an unreserved apology to them which should be published in the Vanguard Newspaper, The Nation Newspaper, and Daily Post Newspaper respectively.
Matthew Omonigho, Onyekachukwu Meluwa, Christopher Odamhe; Mr. EdekiEgafe, correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN); and Mr. Francis Sadhere, correspondent of Business Day were arrested at the Press Centre of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on Gbiaye Street in Warrion May 26, 2020, by a detachment of the IGP Monitoring Unit and taken to the Police Area Command where they were detained from 4:30 pm to 12 a.m without charge in lieu of one of their colleague, Mr. Cletus Opukeme.
Legal counsel to the journalists, OghenejaborIkimidisclosed that the journalists were released on administrative bail upon the intervention of the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Inuwa Hafiz, and others.
Oghenejabor said he wrote to the IGP on the matter demanding a public apology to be rendered by the Police high command to the journalists, but there was no response following which he filed a fundamental rights suit on their behalf at the Delta State High Court, Otor-Udu.
