SaharaReporters learnt on Monday that the Ayodele, the Chief Executive Officer of Rock FM 92.3, Jalingo, and Publisher, Taraba Truths and Facts, was arraigned secretly by the police and remanded in prison afterwards.
The publisher and Managing Editor of Taraba Truth and Facts Newspaper, Ayodele Samuel has been remanded in prison after a secret trial, orchestrated by the Nigerian police on the orders of Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku.
SaharaReporters learnt on Monday that the Ayodele, the Chief Executive Officer of Rock FM 92.3, Jalingo, and Publisher, Taraba Truths and Facts, was arraigned secretly by the police and remanded in prison afterwards.
SaharaReporters had on Sunday reported that the publisher was detained by the police despite meeting the bail conditions given by the court.
SaharaReporters had learnt that Samuel had been remanded for six days despite meeting his bail conditions which were the provision of N10 million naira and two sureties who must be residents of Jalingo with landed properties worth N5million naira each.
Samuel has since met the bail conditions but the police have refused to release him.
Sources told SaharaReporters that the police were acting on the orders of the state governor, Darius Ishaku.
“The publisher of Taraba Truth and Facts and CEO of Rock FM has been detained for 6 days now despite a court order granting him bail. He has since met the bail conditions but the police have refused to release him.
“The governor (Ishaku) is trying to suppress the freedom of the press in the state,” one of the sources had said.
Before his arrest and detention, Samuel raised the alarm over alleged threats to his life by agents of the state government.
In November, Samuel told SaharaReporters that agents of the state government led by the Aide De Camp to Ishaku had been making efforts to kill him. He said he had it on good authority that the state government through the Attorney General had concluded plans with a Magistrate Court in Jalingo to remand him in prison and give stringent bail conditions that would be hard for him to meet.
He had said, “While it appears that the government is trying to unjustly repress me through the legal framework through a petition to the police to investigate some reports published by the Taraba Truth and Facts Newspapers with regards to the privatization of the Mambilla Beverages Company and the College of Nursing, Jalingo, its agent are also simultaneously trying to eliminate me, giving me no room to be vindicated.
“Some of the publications that are said to have angered the government were published on Taraba Truth and Facts, as well as several notable media organizations in the country. Rather than give their side of the story, they have chosen to specifically go after Taraba Truth and Facts and my individual self.
“I also want to bring to your notice that the ADC and some top government officials are victimizing me on the grounds that I’m not an indigene of Taraba State and lack standards to publish a newspaper in the state. It's a common statement within those corridors of power in Taraba State that 'I should return to my fatherland.’ An aide to Governor Ishaku once wrote this.
“I strongly believe I need to be alive to defend myself from any allegations levelled against me, the state owes a duty to protect me. I’m however not confident of my safety in Taraba State any longer.”