The Benue State Police Command has on Friday arrested one Mr Emmanuel Atswen, a reporter with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) According to reports, Mr Atswen was arrested over a report he did on the IDP protests at the International Market Camp in the state capital, Makurdi.
The IDPs had, on September 12, blocked the main entrance into the camp as they protested against alleged diversion of relief materials by camp officials. They therefore prevented vehicles loaded with various relief materials from driving out.
Mr Atswen who was at the camp during the protest, had taken still and video pictures and filed in a report, acts that NAN is claiming led to his arrest. He is currently being held on allegations of defamation of character and falsehood. The police officer investigating the case has allegedly ignored arguments that the offences he was being charged with were bailable and has turned down pleas from even his lawyers to release him.
Boss of the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Boniface Ortese had petitioned NAN over the same story and demanded N3 billion as damages. But the NAN management released a statement on Saturday insisting that it would stand by its story as it did not violate the tenets of journalism, Vanguard reports.
According to the statement by Editor-in-Chief of NAN, Malam Yusuf Zango, neither Dr Ortese’s name nor that of his agency was mentioned in the report thus it couldn’t have amounted to defamation.
“We were shocked and surprised by the claim made by Dr Ortese,” Malam Zango said of the allegation.
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