Ogundipe: Police Drible Employer
BY TAIWO FAROTIMI
Samuel Ogundipe, Premium Times’ reporter detained by the police for refusing to disclose his source has been arraigned in court secretly. Ogundipe was taken to court after his editor and company lawyer were tricked to believe that no action would be taken on his matter on Wednesday.
Sani Ahmadu, deputy commissioner of police in charge of the case had told the lawyer and editor around 10:00 am on Wednesday that they should return at 4:00 pm that day to know the next line of action. That was at the venue of his detention centre in Abuja. However, by the time Ogundipe called his editor on a borrowed phone it was at a court premises, after the magistrate had ruled that he be remanded for another five days.
The magistrate did not know that he was a journalist and the charges brought against him by the police was that of theft of police document. Even at that the reporter would not have been able to make that call but for the instruction of the magistrate who said he should be allowed to make a call within the court premises. He used a registrar’s telephone.
A statement by the management of Premium Times quoted Ogundipe as telling his editor on phone that “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.”
But the police may have more dramatic plans for the reporter. This is because the clause in the penal code which was cited in court has nothing to do with stealing.
Meanwhile , there have been calls by different groups and individuals asking the police to release Ogundipe or take him to court for proper trial. The Amnesty International, the International Press Centre in Lagos and the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ are some of the groups that have condemned the police action and called for the release of the reporter.
