NIGERIA

JUNE 20, 2005
Posted: June 30, 2005

Police officers in Nigeria’s central Kogi State occupied the local chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), harassed local journalists, and detained the local union chairman, according to local journalists and the Lagos-based press freedom group Media Rights Agenda.

Police raided the NUJ’s offices in the state capital, Lokoja, demanding to see Wole Ayodele, a correspondent for the independent national daily Vanguard, and Isiaka Oyibo, a reporter for the independent national daily Daily Times, CPJ sources said. The papers had published stories alleging that armed bandits had attacked and humiliated the local police commissioner.

The next day, police arrested Segun Omolehin, chairman of the Kogi State branch of the NUJ, and detained him overnight before releasing him without charge. Omolehin told CPJ he was beaten by other inmates on the orders of police officers. Ayodele and Oyibo went into hiding for fear of arrest or violent retribution, according to CPJ sources.