House of Justice Condemns Continuous Police Detention of Journalist Oga Tom Uhia.

House of Justice has condemned the continuous detention in police custody of the Publisher, Power Steering Magazine, Mr Oga Tom Uhia. Mr. Uhia, 73 was picked up by the police on 13 October 2020 allegedly on the orders of a serving Minister in the Buhari cabinet.

A statement by Gloria Mabeiam Ballason, C.E.O. House of Justice reads ” The continuous detention of Pa. Oga Tom Uhia, a journalist and senior citizen in a police facility for over two weeks now does not only go against the grain of the Nigerian Constitutional provision of presumption of innocence until guilt is proven as well as arraignment in court within 24 or 48 hours but is moreso a condemnable infringement on a free press which inexorably has a chilling effect on Nigeria’s democracy.”

Continuing, the statement said that it was “concerning that at a time Nigeria is in the eye of the globe for police brutality executive might is being employed to detain a journalist in police custody for over two weeks.

Surely, the Nigeria Police Force headquarters through its spokesperson, Mr. Frank Mba cannot claim that Mr. Uhia is being detained by order of court when he has neither been arraigned before any court nor has any remand order or detention warrant been made available to his lawyers; ” the statement read.