July 13, (THEWILL) – The Online Publishers Association of Nigeria (OPAN), the flagship organisation for digital news publishers, has demanded the immediate release of the publisher of 247ureports.com, Mr Ikenna Ellis Ezenekwe, who was picked up by the Nigerian police in the FCT, Abuja, on the morning of July 5, 2021, over an article published on the website.
OPAN said since his arrest by men from the IGP monitoring team, Ezenekwe has remained in incarceration and has not been charged to court.
“This is unlawful and an infringement of his fundamental rights”, OPAN said in a statement jointly signed by its President, Austyn Ogannah and General Secretary, Daniel Elombah.
Maintaining that the Police never formally invited Ezenekwe, the association said he was immediately arrested and taken to the national police headquarters in Asokoro, where he was interrogated in the absence of his lawyer.
“A former chief of staff to the former governor of Anambra, Willie Obiano, Chief Primus Odili, who recently failed in his senatorial bid on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), petitioned the IGP monitoring team to arrest and detain Mr Ezenekwe, claiming the article on him was libelous.
“OPAN gathered authoritatively that Chief Odili has tasked the IGP monitoring team to unmask the source of the article, which Ezenekwe has declined to identify, citing confidentiality and privilege between journalists and news sources.
“We find it disturbing and unacceptable that the police could allow a citizen to use it to intimidate a journalist.
“The police have continued to intimidate and coerce Ezenekwe, demanding to know the source of his story. This is wrong. Is the police above the laws of the land?
“OPAN, hereby calls on the police, to immediately release Mr Ezenekwe and apologise to him for his unlawful incarceration”, the online publishers stated further.
