A magistrates’ court in Abuja has
granted bail to Samuel Ogundipe, a Premium Times reporter who was arrested on
Tuesday.
This comes after activists and
organisations, within and outside the country, mounted pressure on the police
to release the reporter.
Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general
of police, had reportedly ordered the arrest of Ogundipe over a story on the
report he submitted to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on the blockade of the
national assembly.
Idris submitted the report after
the sack of Lawal Daura, former director-general of the Department of State
Services (DSS).
The IGP had requested that the
force be given the permission to search the residences of all the suspects
involved in the national assembly blockade, including Daura.
After the leak, the police asked
Ogundipe to disclose the source of getting the document but he refused in line
with the ethics of the profession.
The journalists was secretly
arraigned at the magistrates’ court in Abuja on Wednesday without being granted
access to his lawyers.
He was reportedly charged with
criminal trespass and theft of police document.
The newspaper had reported that
though Ogundipe’s lawyer was allowed access to him at the facility of the
special anti-robbery squad (SARS) in Abuja on Wednesday morning but the lawyer
was asked to leave only for him (Ogundipe) to be later taken to court “without
prior notice”.
It was at the court that the
journalist reportedly got a phone to inform the newspaper of the development.
He was quoted as saying: “They
brought me to a magistrate court in Kubwa where they arraigned me. The
magistrate said they should detain me for five days.
“They accused me of criminal
trespass. They said I stole secret documents. The magistrate does not know the
details, because they did not include in the charge that I am a journalist. I
was not allowed to contact my lawyers.
“They also did not allow me to
call anyone until the magistrate ordered them to let me make one call. I am
currently using the registrar’s phone to make this call and they are collecting
it.”
Jimoh Moshood, force spokesman,
had insisted that Ogundipe would be tried.
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