 |
| Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River State. |
By Media Rights Agenda
LAGOS,
Tuesday, 3 September 2019: Media Rights Agenda (MRA) today called for the immediate release
of Mr. Agba Jalingo, a journalist with the Cross River Watch, describing his
arrest and detention since August 22, 2019 as unlawful and the charges of
treason preferred against him on August 30 for criticising Cross Rivers State
Governor Ben Ayade on social media as a “shameful and ridiculous trivialization
of our criminal laws”.
In
a statement issued in Lagos, MRA’s Programme Director, Mr. Ayode Longe said:
“It is rather unfortunate that in the face of such massive and widespread
insecurity of lives and property in Nigeria, rather than gear up to perform its
primary duty of ensuring the security of the people, the Police has chosen to
make itself a willing tool of oppression in the hands of politicians against
innocent citizens that it has failed to protect and who are victims of the bad
governance of the same politicians.”
He
described the arrest and detention of Mr. Jalingo for over a week simply for
writing a story that displeased Governor Ayade as a clear violation of the
right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution as well
as regional and international human rights instruments to which Nigeria is a
signatory.
Mr.
Longe noted that having held Mr. Jalingo without charge for over a week in
violation of the Constitution, the police decided to charged him with “acts of
treason, treasonable felony, and threatening through various publications
on crossriverwatch.com and social media,
using malicious publications, instigating the people of Nigeria to stage
protest for the removal of the Governor of Cross River State of Nigeria from
office without due process of law” under Section 41 of the Criminal Code Act.
He
said: “These charges make a mockery of our legal system. They amount to a
shameful and ridiculous trivialization of our criminal laws. They have the
effect of undermining the integrity of the Nigeria Police and will ultimately
result in robbing the State of the ability of using these legal provisions in
deserving cases as both the State and the laws would have lost credibility in
the eyes of the people.”
Mr.
Longe argued that if anyone is on the wrong path at all, it is not Mr. Jalingo
but Governor Ayade and the Nigeria Police in Cross Rivers State who are
violating an injunction long established by the Court of Appeal in Nwankwo v.
The State (1985) NCLR 247, where the Court held that any public officer who
feels defamed by any publication should sue for libel, as it is illegal to use
the machinery of the State to harass political opponents.
He
called on Governor Ayade, as a public figure, to learn to withstand criticisms,
saying “if he the Governor cannot stand the heat, he should get out of the
kitchen”.
According
to him, the mere fact that Governor Ayade considers an expression of opinion
insulting to him or even damaging to his reputation, cannot justify abusing his
powers and misusing the Police and criminal Law for his personal
aggrandizement.
Mr.
Longe therefore called on the Inspector-General of Police to prevail on the
Commissioner of Police in Cross River State to withdraw the unjustifiable
criminal charges against Mr. Jalingo and ensure his immediate and unconditional
release.
He
also advised Governor Ayade against using the Police and public resources to
suppress and punish critical voices, urging him instead to thread the path of
constitutionality by bringing a civil suit for libel against him if he truly
feels that he has a reputation to protect.
No comments:
Post a Comment