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Raid and arrests come after army accusing Premium Times of 'publishing falsehood against its operations and chief'.
Nigerian security forces on Thursday
raided the office of a prominent local online news platform and arrested
at least two of its journalists, said the platform.
Premium Times' publisher Dapo Olorunyomi was arrested along with Evelyn Okakwu, the website’s judiciary reporter.
“Plain-clothed
officers conducted search at our office shortly after 5 p.m. [1600GMT]
Thursday, and said they were acting on a complaint filed by the Chief of
Army Staff, Tukur Buratai,” according to a statement published on its
website.
“The arrests came days after
PREMIUM TIMES turned down the army’s demand to retract news stories
about the Nigerian Army and its operations,” it added.
The
raid and the arrests came days after the army accused Premium Times of
allegedly publishing falsehood against its operations and chief,
threatening a lawsuit unless the online platform retracts some of its
reports. The platform rejected the accusation, and said the army was
trying to gag the media.
Amnesty International condemned the raid and the arrest in a short statement on Thursday.
“Nigerian
security should ensure that they release Dapo Olorunyomi and Evelyn
Okakwu or charge them to court immediately. We are calling on the
authorities to ensure that the two journalists are granted access to
their lawyers and families,” Amnesty International said in a statement
on its tweeter handle.
Source:aa.com.tr
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