November 13, 2008
SaharaReporters, New York
The State Security Services (SSS) today in the federal capital detained the publisher of Abuja-based Leadership newspaper, Mr. Sam Nda-Isiah, and the editor of the weekend edition, Lara Olugbemi. They had honored an invitation to the Yellow House Headquarters of the SSS over the controversial story about Yar'Adua's health last Saturday.
The Leadership newspaper board issued a statement in which it said that Mr. Nda–Isiah had flown into Abuja from a conference of newspaper publishers in Lagos. He drove directly to the SSS office at 3:00 PM, while Lara Olugbemi had gone there hours earlier at 11 AM. As of 7:00 p.m. local time, according to a SaharaReporters correspondent in Abuja, they were still being held incommunicado, and without bail. Last week, the combative newspaper headlined a story drawing attention to the deteriorating health condition of Yar'Adua, but did not confirm if Yar'Adua attended the weekly service at the National Mosque on Friday. Also, the failure of Yar'adua to meet with the visiting German president at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, as it is the normal practice, led the reporters to conclude that he was not well enough to do so. Though Yar'Adua's spokesperson condemned the publication and threatened that Yar’Adua would sue the publication for libel, SaharaReporters had reported that it was an empty ruse prompted by the presence of the 44th conference of the African People and Human Rights which was going on in Abuja.
Leadership newspaper sources told SaharaReporters that one full week after the presidential spokesperson made the threat, Yar'Adua’s lawyers were yet to serve any court summons on them. Instead, the State Security Services (SSS) repeatedly harassed reporters and editors at the publication. Last week Sunday, we reported that two editors attached to the publication were briefly held by the police authorities and made to sign undertakings and confessional statements under duress. They were released after the newspaper offered a front-page apology to Yar'Adua for the story. Our sources said Mr. Nda-Isiah incurred the anger of Yar'Adua when he wrote a scathing exposé in his weekly column condemning a Supreme Court justice, Dahiru Musdapher. Justice Musdapher has been identified as the arrowhead of the compromise at the apex court regarding the election petition before a 7-man panel of the Supreme Court that includes Justice Musdapher.
The Supreme Court judge was recently nominated by the Federal government to membership of its delegation to the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, a move that has led opposition politicians and observers to question his neutrality. ANPP candidate, Mohammed Buhari, who is one of those involved in the election petition against Mr. Yar’Adua, asked the judge to recuse himself from the panel.
Apart from the hajj controversy, Justice Musdapher is also involved in another controversy. He reportedly nominated businessman Aminu Wali, Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, to Yar'Adua as Ambassador to China. Analysts point at the mixed messages involved in the two issues as suggesting that justice may be compromised in the electoral petition.
The State Security Services (SSS) today in the federal capital detained the publisher of Abuja-based Leadership newspaper, Mr. Sam Nda-Isiah, and the editor of the weekend edition, Lara Olugbemi. They had honored an invitation to the Yellow House Headquarters of the SSS over the controversial story about Yar'Adua's health last Saturday.
The Leadership newspaper board issued a statement in which it said that Mr. Nda–Isiah had flown into Abuja from a conference of newspaper publishers in Lagos. He drove directly to the SSS office at 3:00 PM, while Lara Olugbemi had gone there hours earlier at 11 AM. As of 7:00 p.m. local time, according to a SaharaReporters correspondent in Abuja, they were still being held incommunicado, and without bail. Last week, the combative newspaper headlined a story drawing attention to the deteriorating health condition of Yar'Adua, but did not confirm if Yar'Adua attended the weekly service at the National Mosque on Friday. Also, the failure of Yar'adua to meet with the visiting German president at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, as it is the normal practice, led the reporters to conclude that he was not well enough to do so. Though Yar'Adua's spokesperson condemned the publication and threatened that Yar’Adua would sue the publication for libel, SaharaReporters had reported that it was an empty ruse prompted by the presence of the 44th conference of the African People and Human Rights which was going on in Abuja.
Leadership newspaper sources told SaharaReporters that one full week after the presidential spokesperson made the threat, Yar'Adua’s lawyers were yet to serve any court summons on them. Instead, the State Security Services (SSS) repeatedly harassed reporters and editors at the publication. Last week Sunday, we reported that two editors attached to the publication were briefly held by the police authorities and made to sign undertakings and confessional statements under duress. They were released after the newspaper offered a front-page apology to Yar'Adua for the story. Our sources said Mr. Nda-Isiah incurred the anger of Yar'Adua when he wrote a scathing exposé in his weekly column condemning a Supreme Court justice, Dahiru Musdapher. Justice Musdapher has been identified as the arrowhead of the compromise at the apex court regarding the election petition before a 7-man panel of the Supreme Court that includes Justice Musdapher.
The Supreme Court judge was recently nominated by the Federal government to membership of its delegation to the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, a move that has led opposition politicians and observers to question his neutrality. ANPP candidate, Mohammed Buhari, who is one of those involved in the election petition against Mr. Yar’Adua, asked the judge to recuse himself from the panel.
Apart from the hajj controversy, Justice Musdapher is also involved in another controversy. He reportedly nominated businessman Aminu Wali, Nigeria’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, to Yar'Adua as Ambassador to China. Analysts point at the mixed messages involved in the two issues as suggesting that justice may be compromised in the electoral petition.
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