NUJ, CASER condemn journalist detention by DSS

Also a group, Citizen Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights, has condemned Ezimako’s detention by the DSS, describing it as utterly shameful. According to a statement by NUJ on Sunday, Ezimako had been in the custody of the DSS for four days. CASER, in its statement, noted that Ezimako’s arrest followed an investigative report by the journalist on the movement of Swiss foreign agent and the alleged clandestine payment of $2m by the Nigerian government to secure the release of the kidnapped Chibok girls. The NUJ said its engagement with some highly-placed government officials to secure the release of Ezimako, who is said to be suffering from hypertension, had not yielded any positive result. It expressed worry that the journalist’s health would deteriorate under the condition that he was being held by the DSS. “We insist that the authorities must immediately release Tony Ezimako and permit journalists to operate without fear of arrest. “The Muhammadu Buhari government should seize this opportunity to end such blatant attempts to intimidate journalists and make press freedom a priority,” the NUJ said in a statement by its National Secretary, Shuaibu Leman. On its own part, CASER, in a statement by its Executive Director, Frank Tietie, argued that Ezimako’s detention was an affront to Section 36 of the Nigerian constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression. The group said with its action, the DSS had constituted itself into an enemy of modern democracy, calling on the organisation to retrace its steps. CASER said what Ezimako deserved for his investigative story was commendation, rather than detention by the DSS. It said, “Since it has become the warped duty of government officials to oppose the business of government in such sinister secrecy and thereafter making painstaking efforts to hide the truth, in order to continue to ensconce the culture of mediocrity and unaccountability to the Nigerian people, it behooves the Nigeria journalist to courageously discharge his responsibility to the provisions of Section 22 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, by publishing facts that would expose corruption, ineptitude and official irresponsibility. “It is a lazy and cheap approach for state security agents to arrest journalists in a clear attempt to intimidate them and thereafter proceed to fish for non-existent evidence with which to prosecute them.”]]>