The organisation alleged that the journalists were being detained on the orders of Ms. Monsurah Jumoke Gafar, a relation of the Attorney General of the Federation.
A Kwara State-based pro-democracy group under the aegis of ‘Kwara Must Change’ has lambasted the Nigeria Police Force over the continued detention of some journalists in the state.
The organisation alleged that the journalists were being detained on the orders of Ms. Monsurah Jumoke Gafar, a relation of the Attorney General of the Federation.
The group in a statement on Monday noted that the detention of members of the press for doing their job amounts to an outright abuse of power, not only by the police but also by Ms Gafar and the judiciary.
According to the group, a court ordered the remand of the journalists for 21 days despite producing the source of their press statement.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the Kwara State Command of the Nigeria Police had detained two online journalists, Abdulrazaq Aiyelabegan Babatunde and Lukman Oluwatoyin Bolakale, since last Monday on the orders of some officials of the state government.
The two journalists – Babatunde and Bolakale who are publishers of Just Events Online and Satcom Media respectively – are being incarcerated at the Kwara State Police Command.
It was further gathered that they were detained at the behest of a petition written against the duo by the immediate past Principal Private Secretary (PSS) to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq – Ms, Gafar, alleging defamation of character.
Reacting to the detention of the journalists, a member of Kwara Must Change group who is also an anchor of the group’s popular radio programme, "Eto Wa", Mr Lanre Babadudu, noted that it is unacceptable to detain journalists simply for publishing a press statement with adequate credit to the source and appropriate balancing of the story.
Babadudu said the only job of the press is to publish stories, adding that publishing a story with known sources should never lead to detention.
He explained that while the group was not in support of defamation, it contended that the detention of the journalists for 21 days after providing the source of their story was unacceptable.
According to him, the leadership of Kwara Must Change has explored alternative means of assisting the parties to resolve the issue for six days but Gafar, who was described as the architect of the issue, was reportedly “enjoying herself abroad.”
Babadudu said, "Let it be clear that Jumoke Gafar is the oppressor, not the victim. She's the unjust fellow using her privileged access to unjustly oppress journalists."
He further stated that the death of online personality Mubarak Yusuf, popularly known as Authority, was connected to the issue. He said Mubarak was killed by cultists while visiting the detained journalists in police detention.
Babadudu therefore called on the Attorney General of the Federation to caution his family members, while demanding that the state authorities should release the journalists without further delay.