7th September 2016
Press Release
COOPA demands immediate release of Akwa Ibom based blogger by
SSS
Barely weeks after we frowned at the unlawful arrest and detention of a blogger in Abuja, our attention has been drawn to the arrest and detention of a 38-year-old blogger and publisher of an online news medium, Abia Facts, Mr. Iroegbu Emenike by the State Security Service (SSS) in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State at about 1:00 pm on Tuesday, September 6, 2016.
According to the wife of the blogger, Mrs. Ekaette Emenike Iroegbu, the blogger was arrested by three (3) SSS operatives who invaded their Uyo residence in a Gestapo style in a black jeep. The operatives took away the two phones of Mrs. Emenike; the bloggers own phones and laptop, etc. After ransacking their apartment, they whisked the blogger away without disclosing the reason for his arrest and their destination.
Without prejudice to whatever reason may have motivated the arrest and detention of the blogger, it is very worrisome that the fundamental right to freedom of expression guaranteed by Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) is being eroded at an alarming and unprecedented level since the inception of the current dispensation.
We the Coalition of Online Publishers in Akwa Ibom (COOPA) hereby call on the SSS and other security agencies to resist being used as a tool by political office holders to clampdown on Nigerians for exercising their constitutional liberties. This means that democracy is being threatened in Nigeria by the rising display of intolerance to free speech.
Those who believe that their reputation have been lowered in the eyes of right thinking members of the society should explore the legal option by seeking redress in a court of law instead of taking laws into their hands.
This incessant arrests must stop, looking at similar cases in the West and in the North, now gradually becoming a norm across the nation.
Human Rights groups and professional bodies are beginning a campaign for the release of the blogger, leading the pack is Inibehe Effiong, ESQ, Convener, Coalition of Human Rights Defenders (COHRD).
We at COOPA have not been found wanting, as we have urged our members to be professional in the process of their practice. Which is why we see the arrest of Emenike as injury to all.
We believe that his immediate release will strengthen our democracy, and uphold the people's trust in the government of the day.
Signed
Ifreke Nseowo Nelson NseAbasi
Chancellor Secretary General
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