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Former Minister Emmanuel Iheanancho Found Threatening Journalists And Intimidating Local Leaders Critical Of His Oil Company

A SaharaReporters investigation has found that retired Navy Captain Emmanuel Iheanancho, the former  Minister of the Interior under former President Goodluck Jonathan, has been threatening and intimidating reporters and private citizens in collusion with members of the police as he began construction of a refinery in Lagos.

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Mr. Iheanancho and his company Integrated Oil and Gas has been the subject of an investigation into the environmental impact of dredging operations allegedly carried out in late 2015 by him in the Irede community of Lagos State. The investigation, first started by Tina Armstrong, an award-winning Nigerian freelance reporter, found that Mr. Iheanancho purchased a piece of land bordering the Irede community to build a jetty and mini-refinery. According to Irede community members and media reports, the alleged impact from the company belonging to Mr. Iheanancho was significant property damage along the Irede community coastline.

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Ms. Armstrong, in the course of her investigation, says that she was unable to find any record of an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) on file. According to her, “I visited the office of the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment at Alausa to enquire if the operations of Integrated Oil and Gas Limited was issued an EIA for the Irede community. I was told the Ministry has not issued any EIA approval in the last three years. I got in touch with the Ministry of Waterfronts office and officials there said they are not aware of the dredging operations at Irede community.”

When Ms. Armstrong contacted Mr. Iheanancho for a second time on February 8th, 2016 he told her that she should not be concerned about the allegations from the Irede community against him because he believed he was a victim of blackmail. During this phone conversation, he told Ms. Armstrong that they could have an interview when he returned to Nigeria, which he reportedly agreed to do.

However, according to a statement obtained by SaharaReporters from Ms. Armstrong, “two hours later he called me back and said he was in transit at Heathrow Airport and didn't hear clearly what I was talking about.”

Ms. Armstrong then described how, when she began describing the allegations against him, that Mr. Iheanancho became defensive and soon began making threatening remarks against her. 

“He warned me not to publish any story or else I will put myself in the firing line,” she confirmed to a SaharaReporters correspondent. Ms. Armstrong also added that he threatened to go to her editor.

Following Mr. Iheanancho’s February 8th threats, Ms. Armstrong published reports on her findings regarding his company’s activities on February 12th, 16th, and 19th. [add links]

Also, on February 17th, another reporter Godwin Oritse writing in Vanguard Newspaper, published a follow-up story on the environmental impact of Mr. Iheanancho’s company on the Irede community.

Mr. Oritse, who spoke with a SaharaReporters correspondent by phone on February 25th, confirmed that shortly after publishing his report Mr. Iheanancho appeared at the Vanguard offices demanding that investigations into his company’s activities in the Irede community stop. According to Mr. Oritse, “[Mr. Iheanancho] threatened me and anyone else who wanted to write on him.”

A subsequent conversation between a SaharaReporters correspondent and Mr. Iheanancho confirmed that he visited the Vanguard Newspaper office although he denied threatening anyone.

On Monday, February 22nd the spokesman for Irede Community Developers Association Raymond Gold, who was interviewed by both Ms. Armstrong and Mr. Oritse, and who has been a vocal critic of Mr. Iheanancho’s activities in his community, was invited to speak to the police officers at "Area L" police department in Lagos.

In what turned out to be outright collusion between the police and Mr. Iheanacho, at "Area L", a  Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police S.O. Ojo requested that Mr. Gold and Ms. Armstrong both report to his precinct for questioning. However, when Mr. Gold arrived, he was quickly arrested and detained in a dingy cell. After arresting Mr. Gold, the police commander Mr. Ojo also put in motion efforts to arrest and detain Ms. Armstrong but was unable to locate her.

When contacted by a SaharaReporters Mr. Ojo first denied knowing Mr. Gold and stated that no such person had been arrested by his police command. However, when asked about a possible relationship between Mr. Iheanancho and himself, Mr. Ojo suddenly remembered Mr. Gold and confirmed he was arrested on February 22nd.

Mr. Ojo became very defensive when asked about the reason for Mr. Gold’s arrest and refused to state the charges against him, despite confirming the investigation had been concluded. Mr. Ojo did confirm that he knew Mr. Iheanancho; something that Mr. Iheanancho would later deny.

SaharaReporters was able to obtain a copy of Mr. Gold’s charge sheet from his lawyer Megan Chapman of the Justice and Empowerment Initiatives-Nigeria. The charges, which Mrs. Chapman argues are “frivolous” and intended “intimidate and harass” Mr. Gold, include multiple counts of ‘conduct likely to breach public peace’.

Ms. Chapman, who also spoke with our correspondent, said that there was no evidence to substantiate the charges against Mr. Gold “unless the statements he made to the press would be a breach of peace.” Mr. Gold was also charged with attempting to extort Mr. Iheanancho of N40 million and police claimed he threatened violence against him, both of which Mrs. Chapman argues are unsubstantiated accusations.

SaharaReporters confirmed that Mr. Gold was released from KiriKiri prison on Thursday afternoon, after being arrested on Monday by Mr. Ojo.

SaharaReporters contacted Mr. Iheanancho for response to these allegations and to learn the context of his oppressive activities in greater detail. During a conversation with our correspondent, an irate Mr. Iheanancho confirmed that he visited the offices of Vanguard Newspaper and that he knew of Ms. Armstrong’s reports.

When asked whether he threatened reporters or asked them to stop publishing stories on his refinery project, Mr. Iheanancho denied such allegations. He also denied that he was involved with dredging sand in the Irede area but also refused to disclose what his activities were.

Mr. Iheanancho declined to provide context as to his relationship with Mr. Ojo and the incarceration of Mr. Gold. Subsequently, Mr. Iheanancho stopped responding to calls.

On Thursday the Committee to Protect Journalists released a press statement calling for an investigation into the threats made against Ms. Armstrong by Mr. Iheanancho.

The charge sheet for Mr. Gold and a statement from his lawyer can be read below:

Press Release re Frivolous Prosecution of Raymond Gold (24 Feb 2016) (1).pdf

Raymond Gold Charge Sheet - Final (1).pdf

Topics
Corruption