- Picked in the presence of his wife, children, without arrest warrant or offence disclosure
- Onuorah not abducted but arrested over defamation- Police
Nigerian Journalism once again came under attack on Wednesday, 22/5/2024 as the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Globalupfront Newspaper (Online), Mr. Madu Onuorah, was whisked away by men of the Nigerian Police Force about 6pm.
About ten fully-armed policemen stormed his residence in Lugbe, Abuja, in two Sienna buses.
He was arrested in the presence of his wife and children who fruitlessly demanded from the police why they were arresting the head of the family.
The police have seized Mr. Onuorah’s phones, thereby completely cutting him off from communication with people, including his family members.
He was not even allowed to contact his lawyer or any of his relations before he was whisked away to the Lugbe police station by the stern looking operatives.
To make sure Mr. Onuorah did not get attention or bail, the policemen who arrested him, though not of the Lugbe Police Station, simply dumped him at the Station and left no traces for friends and family members to reach them.
The Management of Globalupfront Newspapers states as follows:
- That the Police should release Mr. Madu Onuorah immediately and unconditionally.
- That Mr. Onuorah is an experienced Journalist, former Abuja Bureau Chief of The Guardian Newspaper, former Managing-Director of The AUTHORITY Newspaper, who operates within the ambit of the law.
- That anybody who has any issue against Mr. Onuorah should approach the law court and not turn the Nigerian Police into a Gestapo outfit that bullies a man in the presence of his wife and children.
- That any second Mr. Onuorah spends in police custody constitutes a serious infringement against his fundamental rights and a continuation of the assault on freedom of expression that has become frequent occurrence in Nigeria recently.
Below is what Felix Abugu, a Senior journalist wrote about him:
MADU ONUORAH: THE ESTABLISHMENT HAS REALLY GONE GAGA
Yes, the Nigerian political establishment has really gone gaga: Madu Onuorah is the most unlikely candidate for this kind of harassment by JB.
A conservative, due-process man, Madu practices journalism by its very tenets. Forever facts-are-sacred kind of reporter, bureau chief, MD/Editor-in-chief and now publisher, Onuorah, a towering, handsome dark guy, isn’t a Sowore #Revolutionnow guy by any means, not one to publish and be damned without facts.
A defence reporter in the mold of our dear good old Juliet Ukabiala of the The Guardian of yore, Onuorah knew better than anyone else that he couldn’t just mess with the Khaki boys by misreporting them. Needless to say, he honed his practice under the military and came to symbolise for us at The Guardian and elsewhere the cherished old style of delete when in doubt.
So, I wager that if Madu (my own Madi Madi) was abducted because of what he wrote or allowed to run on his news site, then cry beloved journalism! We are just back to the satanic Decree 4 era without the law.
Release Madu, abeg. Enough of this nonsense!
However, the Police issued a statement that Onuorah was arrested over defamation but not abducted:
*ABUJA-BASED ONLINE PUBLISHER ARRESTED OVER ALLEGATION OF DEFAMATORY PUBLICATION AND NOT ABDUCTED AS ALLEGED*
_*…Enugu CP orders a professional investigation of the case and solicits patience from NUJ and others*_
The Enugu State Police Command is in receipt of several publications alleging the abduction of an Abuja-based online news publisher, one Madu Onuorah “m”. The Command wishes to state that contrary to the allegations, he was duly arrested in Abuja with the assistance of police operatives from Ebonyi State Command and the aid of intelligence, after efforts made to invite him formally failed.
Furthermore, his arrest was subject to a written petition to the Commissioner of Police against him over an alleged defamatory publication he made against a US-based Reverend Sister.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, *CP Kanayo Uzuegbu, psc (+)*, has ordered the office handling the case to professionally investigate and ensure that justice prevails. He calls on the press family, particularly the leadership and members of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), and associates of the suspect, to exercise patience, assuring that the needful will be done in the case.
*DSP DANIEL NDUKWE, anipr, mnisma*
Police Public Relations Officer,
Enugu State Command
State Headquarters,
GRA, Enugu.
May 23, 2024.