ABUJA POLICE SPEAKS ON WHY PEOPLE’S GAZETTE OFFICE WAS VISITED
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Agency Report
The Federal Capital Territory Command of the Nigerian Police Force has denied conducting a raid on the People’s Gazette newspaper’s headquarters.
On Friday, police purportedly conducted a raid on the newspaper’s Abuja headquarters and detained several staff members, journalists, and editors.
According to a Peoples Gazette story, five armed police officers rushed into the newspaper’s office across from NNPC Quarters in Utako at about 12:35 p.m. and took away John Adenekan, an assistant managing editor.
Later, the officers went back to the workplace and detained Ameedat Adeyemi, Grace Oke, Sammy Ogbu, and Justina Tayani.
The officers requested to speak with the paper’s managing editor, Samuel Ogundipe, and reporter Adefemola Akintade, but they refused to give a reason for their attack.
However, because neither journalist was present throughout the operation, the cops instead chose to detain Mr. Adenekan, continuing an unlawful practice of detaining friends instead of persons of interest.
A dependable source within the police department verified to our correspondent (retd.) that Ogundipe and Akintade, who penned an article on former Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, were arrested when security personnel searched the newspaper’s headquarters.
The police acted when an Abuja-based publisher named Isah Bello filed a lawsuit against Peoples Gazette for allegedly defaming the ambassador to the Benin Republic a few days prior.
On June 23, the publication said that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission conducted a search of a supposedly Buratai property and found 50 expensive watches, among other things.
However, Bello, however, alleged in his lawsuit filed before the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja that the newspaper ignored a letter it received on June 28, 2022, asking for clarification on the story’s source.
He claims that the failure to respond to the inquiry was illegal and unjust because it violated section 4(a) of the Freedom of Information Act of 2011.
Osuagwu Ugochukwu filed the petition, asking the court to persuade the defendant to provide the information outlined in his letter.
However, in response to the report, the command’s public relations officer, DSP Josephine Adeh, who spoke with our correspondent, asserted that the newspaper’s reporters and staff members were only called in for questioning because of a petition that was filed against them accusing the publication of defaming Buratai.
“Our officers did not search any media houses,” DSP Adeh stated. Since we are aware of better practices and since media outlets are not used as criminal hideouts, we don’t raid them.
“A petition was written by someone accusing the newspaper of character assassination. The journal was charged with disparaging Tukur Buratai’s reputation as the former Chief of Army Staff. We did, however, obtain a court order for us to question them.
So, the truth of the situation is that People’s Gazette was the target of a petition, and they are not above the law. Therefore, the correct thing to do is to invite them if someone had signed a petition against them, and that is what we did. We worked with the Nigerian Union of Journalists on this case and invited them to conduct additional investigation.We are not acting in support of the NUJ, and the court has also issued a warrant allowing them to question the People’s Gazette.
“We invited them with no malice in mind. Our officers visited the Peoples Gazette office this morning to extend an invitation for them to attend the Utako police station to provide a statement in response to the petition. I speak to you, the NUJ Secretary is with them at the Utako police station as they’re making their statements.”
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