Nigerian anti-president blogger arrested

[Richard Akindele]

Contrary to human rights, and the Nigerian law and justice system, Jonathan Elendu, a Nigerian blogger has been arrested and detained by the Nigeria’s secret service, without a right to a lawyer, or medical visit, reports claim.

The said, Mr. Jonathan Elendu a US based blogger has been in detention since Saturday for acts of sedition following his publications of somewhat controversial stories about Nigerian politicians, accusing some of them of corruption and others of crimes based on anonymous sources, on his website, Elendureports.com.

Reports suggests that Mr. Elendu was however arrested following photographs published on his website a few months ago showing President Umaru Yar’Adua’s son, a 13-year-old Musa Yar’Adua waving wads of money around and holding a policeman’s gun. During the election campaign in 2007, Elendureports.com also claimed that Mr. Yar’Adua had died during a medical trip to Germany.

International media rights groups ‘Reporters Without Borders’ have called for Mr Elendu’s release. But a Nigerian security spokesman Kene Chukwu told the BBC that Mr Elendu’s detention had followed legal rules. even though Mr. Elendu’s claims that he has not spoken to his client since his arrest. ‘They have not pressed any charges and have not allowed anyone to see him,’ he said.

Freedom of speech and the press has been questioned in Nigeria, following reports that two foreign journalists were detained and deported by the Nigerian security service for reporting in the politically sensitive oil-rich Niger Delta region over the last few months.

In September, six local reporters and media executives were detained and questioned after a television channel reported, after receiving a hoax e-mail, that the president planned to resign.

[Richard Akindele]

This is classic dictatorship.

Why is the Yar'Adua government so sensitive to criticisms? A president should have thick skin. Regardless what people say against you as the number one leader, you should simply shrug it off.

As a president, there will be proponents, neophytes, just as there will be harsh critics of your policies. This goes with the territory.

There have been reports of intimidation tactics employed against anybody or entity that dares to kick against the administration's actions. TV stations have been shutdown, journalists and even bloggers arrested and detained.

Even if a reporter totally makes things up, and reports bogus stories, what does the president have to lose? All the president needs to do in such cases is issue statements that refute such reports, and be done with it. The reporter on the other hand has a lot to lose, because his credibility becomes tainted.

I believe people should be allowed to say whatever they want to say, as long as it doesn't incite the public into a riot, or amount to insurrection.

[Richard Akindele]

Second US-based blogger in two weeks detained by Nigeria

A US journalist's rights group said on Friday that Nigeria is holding a US-based blogger without charge, in the second such incident in two weeks.

Emmanuel Emeka Asiwe, editor of the Arlington, Massachusetts-based HuhuOnline website, which focuses on Nigerian politics, was arrested Tuesday at the Abuja airport, and has been "held incommunicado and without charge seen since," according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in New York.

Asiwe is being "questioned over matters of national security," said Nigerian State Security Service (SSS) spokesman Kenechukwu Onyeogu.

CPJ said the Nigerian government has cracked down on foreign-based Nigerian political websites ever since photos of President Umaru Yar'Adua's teenage son, Musa, posing with an AK-47 assault rifle and holding cash, were published on a popular news blog.

"We are concerned that Nigerian authorities are detaining journalists in an attempt to intimidate foreign-based online journalists from reporting on Nigeria," said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes.

"We call on President Umaru Yar'Adua to ensure that the SSS respects due process and stop these actions that undermine Nigeria's democratic gains and harken back to the era of military rule."

Jonathan Elendu, a blogger for the Lansing, Michigan-based ElenduReports was detained mid-October for 10 days, and "provisionally released without charge" on Wednesday, said the CPJ in a statement.

Elendu told CPJ that Nigerian security agents interrogated him for five days over alleged links with other political websites, his journalistic sources, his source of income and his opinion of the Nigerian president.

"Agents also quizzed him about stories discussing Yar'Adua's health," said the CPJ.

http://www.africasia.com/services/news/ ... hemkwy.php

[xdunamis]

That picture of musa, is it true or is it an animation. I would have loved to see it.