By LAJA THOMAS
IKEJA— Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, said it will drag Lagos Magistrate, Mrs. Aderonke Oshoniyi and the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, to court over the harassment and detention of 13 journalists on the orders of the magistrate in Ikeja, Lagos, on April 4.
Lagos State Council of NUJ Chairman, Mr Deji Elumoye, who dropped the hint, also condemned the arrest and detention of the journalists by policemen attached to Area F Command of Nigeria Police, Ikeja, Lagos.
Elumoye said in a statement, yesterday, that the union was concerned about the continued harassment and detention of journalists, adding that the union's lawyers had been directed to head to court to seek redress on behalf of the journalists, who were harassed and detained in the course of carrying out their official duties.
He said: "We will not allow the ugly incident to go unchallenged and this is why we are heading to court. The detained journalists include, Wale Busari, a judicial correspondent with Silverbird Television; Francis Iwuchukwu of Peoples Daily; Henry Ojeluh of PMNews/The News; Yejide Gbenga-Ogundare of Nigerian Tribune; Solomon Asowata of the News Agency of Nigeria and Akinwale Akintunde of Thisday.
"Others are Yetunde Ayobami-Ojo of The Guardian; Nurudeen Oyewole of Daily Trust, Shola Shoyele, Channels Television; Gbenga Shoyele, Nigerian Compass; Ranti Thomas, Moment Newspapers; Bisi Onanuga, The Nation; and Yemi Adebanjo, News Star newspapers."
Describing the action of the magistrate as undemocratic and unbecoming of a custodian of Nigerian law, the Council urged the Acting Inspector- General and the Lagos State Judicial Service Commission, JSC, to call the magistrate and the policemen to order as the Council would no longer tolerate such intimidation from public officers.
The Council wondered why Oshoniyi should use security agents to intimidate journalists, who were discharging their statutory duties, noting "for so long now, Nigerian journalists have been harassed, brutalised and maimed by security agents, whose duty is to guide and protect innocent citizens."
Noting that the Constitution of the country allows for freedom of the press, the Council wondered why members of the fourth estate of the realm should be hounded by the judiciary, which is the third estate in the realm, describing such action as "Man inhumanity to man."
The Council noted that, it was unthinkable that despite, the efforts of journalists to bring the activities of the judiciary to the fore, the Magistrates are still using security agents to oppress the journalists, adding that such incident had happened in the same court in the past.
"We are worried that the action of the Magistrate, if unchecked, would rub-off on the judiciary, which is highly regarded as the hope of the common man. Instead of harassing innocent journalists with policemen, they should use the same policemen to stem the tide of insecurity of lives and property in the country," the Council said.
Vanguard Nigeria
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