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The Police Spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi stated this on Thursday warning journalists against reports he said could be regarded as defamation.
The Police Spokesperson, while speaking at a joint briefing organised by the Strategic Communications Interagency Policy Committee of the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA in Abuja denied that journalists have been unfairly targeted in the last one year.
Adejobi was reacting to reports that the police gag the press with the amended CyberCrime Act of 2024, given the series of crackdowns on journalists in recent times.
Various reports have indicated more journalists have been arrested in most cases abducted from their homes or on their way to assignments and confined to prison without trace in the administration of Bola Tinubu than his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
According to the Press Attack Tracker (PAT), there have been 37 incidents of press freedom violations between 29 May 2023 and 29 May 2024.
On 7 February, the Kwara State Police Command charged four journalists – Salihu Ayatullahi, Azeez Jaji, Abdurahman Damilola and Salihu Taofeek who work for Informant247 to court for allegedly violating Section 27(1)b and Section 24 of Nigeria’s Cybercrime Act.
Also, the National Cybercrime Centre (NCC) of the Nigerian Police Force invited and detained the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) Board Chair, Olubukola Shonibare, for many hours concerning reports the police have refused to reveal.
Similarly, few weeks ago, Daniel Ojukwu, a reporter with FIJ was abducted in Lagos and flown to the National Cybercrime Centre of the Police in Abuja.
It took almost one week before his whereabouts could be located after the media outfits had spent million to track him via his phone.
On Monday, Police operatives from the Zone 2 Command in Lagos stormed the home of Precious Eze, a journalist and publisher of News Platform and arrested him in gestapo style. He’s yet to be released.
But Muyiwa denied journalists are target of the police noting it was neither out to witch-hunt, oppress nor subvert press freedom in the country.
He said, “It’s not true that we are applying cyber crime act to witch-hunt or oppress you or to subvert press freedom in Nigeria.
“I am not saying you should not be a whistleblower but if you want to be one, you must get your facts right.
“Defamation of character is a law defined under the Cybercrime Act and the criminal acts of this country define defamation as an offence. If somebody has published something wrong against you, as a Nigerian you have the right to take it up.
“As a trained police officer, I may decide not to use the cybercrime act to prosecute you. As a trained policeman I must be able to lay my hands on many laws to nail you if I want to.
“Forget the fact that the NSA has called for the full implementation of the act, the police can lay their hands on any law to prosecute anybody.”
Muyiwa noted that journalists do not enjoy immunity as they are “criminally liable” once accused of a crime.
He added, “Mind you, the fact that somebody is a journalist does not grant him immunity over certain things.
“Let me put it on record that if a petition has been written against you, as a certified journalist is to honour the invitation and get across to the office of the Force spokesperson.
“Some of them you claimed have been victimized have not contacted me. Everybody is a journalist, we practise citizen journalism in Nigeria.
“The fact is the police have not arrested anyone from the mainstream media. Most of these bloggers are always running foul of the law because they want to break the law.
“You can’t break the news without confirmation from the parties involved. You need to balance your report. Once you are invited to come and clarify a report, don’t run away. We are human beings like you.”
