"You are a bloody criminal" - Barr. Ugwuonye accuses Niger State Government

• says they will never win the case

By Ehi Ekhator, Naija Center News

A human right lawyer and the President/CEO at Eculaw Group, Barrister Emeka Ugwuonye has called the Niger State Government a bloody criminal, who rob their State and the country blind and now think they could repress questions about their conduct.

Governor Aliyu, Niger State

The arrest of  an NTA journalist, Tega Samuel Ogenedoro, also known as Fejiro Oliver, who was before his arrested, team head of Secretreporters, last week Friday in Abuja by the State Government and whisked away to Minna, has continued to attract negative comments against the government.

Fejiro was arrested in Abuja by men of the SSS who alleged that he attempted to blackmail the Niger State government the sum of N50m to skew an indicting publication.

Reacting to the arrest, Barrister Emeka Ugwuonye called on the State government and its exectuves to release the arrested journalist immediately.

Barr. Ugwuonye who said he has tried to stay away from the case said though, the journalist was charged with extortion, but he was never in Minna where he is now being prosecuted.

He said  “On purpose, I shall try to stay away from this discussion.

“The main point is this: The Nigerian State or the Niger State Government is a powerful enough institution, as has been demonstrated. It does not need your help on judging and condemning a person arrested and in detention. To come out here and attack this man is the lowest and most cowardly thing to do. That is the choice of the coward.

“Also, those who have judged this man so harshly are clearly not well educated and certainly not informed at all on how the law works.

“He is charged also with attempt to or actual intimidation of the State Government. If you believe that a single regular struggling journalist could intimidate a State Government, you really need to see a doctor immediately. How would he be able to do that? Is it by publishing some unpleasant truth about the State or by publishing falsehood about the state?

“He is also charged with extortion. But he never entered Niger Sate voluntarily. Rather, he was kidnapped in Abuja and taken to Niger State.”

The barrister noted that the Niger State government may have used his mobile phone to exchange text messages which it inturn was produced in court as an evidence against the arrested journalist.

He said “And the evidence the state is bandying about, and which many have swallowed so foolishly, consists of cell phone exchanges. But did you remember that once that guy was kidnapped, they seized his phone and presumably began to create the evidence they needed to blackmail him.

“This is an absolute show of shame and those who participate in this ought to be ashamed of themselves.

“For the avoidance of doubt, this is not about Oliver. It is not about one journalist and one state government. It is about press and personal freedom at a critical time in the history of Nigeria. The country is going through a bad war and facing an election. The populace have been gradually finding their voices to hold government accountable throughout he new media (the social media). The government through its instrument of atavistic repression wants to test the waters and see how easy it will be for them to repress this new media. And that is what is playing out before the world.

“I am still considering whether to get involved in this case for the accused. If I do, Niger State Government should just prepare for the biggest trouble in its history. They are bloody criminals, who rob their State and the country blind and now think they could repress questions about their conduct.

“And by the way, there is no law against a person using a pseudonym. That has been one thing that the least informed among you have tried to criminalise. There is nothing wrong in a journalist regularly based in Asaba covering a story anywhere in the world. So, stop and think. When this battle starts, it is the Governor of Niger State that would be shown to be the rogue.”

Reacting to Gimba Kakanda, an ardent critic of the Niger State Government who suddenly took the side of the state government against Oliver, the lawyer said “This is an alternative way to view it: Because Gimba was the fiercest critic of the Governor, is it possible that Gimba felt threatened by Ejiro’s move to outshine him on that credential? Secondly, being the fiercest critic of the Governor all this while, is it possible that Ejiro’s case provides a dramatic opportunity for the Gimba to reconcile with the Governor? This is why it is not good to speculate possibilities. We need to focus on the facts.

“I feel certain degree of affinity toward the people of Niger State. That feeling was built over the years from the time I was counsel to General Abdulsalami Abubakar, whom I discovered on my own to be a good man, even though he is not popular with many others.

“I hate to see this Ejiro’s case get out of hand. That is why my first move would be to persuade the Niger State Government to drop this case quickly. I would like to convince them that they would be the most damaged at the end of a protracted fight. I will do that as a matter of courtesy given my feeling toward the people of that State. Should it fail, then we are in for a fight. I will first try to move that case out of Niger State. None of the alleged facts occurred in Niger State. The suspect was kidnapped and forced to the state. Our constitution would not allow anybody to destroy the principle of jurisdiction by illegally creating jurisdiction. Trust me: they will never win this case.”

Read Naija Center News report on this issue

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"You are a bloody criminal" - Barr. Ugwuonye accuses Niger State Government