THE police today raided Peoples Gazette newspaper office in Abuja over a report indicting a former Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai.
An unconfirmed number of policemen stormed the PG office located at Plot 1095, Umar Shuaibu Avenue, arrested John Adenekan, an assistant managing editor of the newspaper and four other staff members.
The four staffers Ameedat Adeyemi, Grace Oke, Sammy Ogbu and Justina Tayani.
They have all been released.
Managing Editor Samuel Ogundipe said Buratai was behind the raid.
“We are excited about the release of our colleagues, John Adenekan and Grace Oke,” Ogundipe said this evening. “We thank our lawyers and the Nigerian public for mounting appropriate pressure.”
Ogundipe, however, said this might not be the end of Buratai’s antics.
“For many who know Tukur Buratai, today’s attack on our paper bore his hallmarks,” he said. Tukur Buratai supervised several massacres and corrupt practices when he led the Nigerian Army for six years. He deployed state tools to intimidate and harm citizens and organisations. But he would fail again as in past attacks on press freedoms.”
Ogundipe thanked all Nigerians and organisations, including the CPJ and SERAP, who showed solidarity towards The Gazette, saying the fight to detach Nigeria from the brutalities of its dark days should be sustained.
But reacting to the report, the Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Josephine Adeh, who spoke to Punch claimed that journalists and staff members of the newspaper were only invited for questioning over a petition written against them accusing the paper of defaming the character of Buratai.
DSP Adeh said, “Our officers did not raid any media house. We don’t raid media houses because we know better, and media houses are not criminal hideouts.
“Someone had written a petition accusing the newspaper of defamation of character. The newspaper was accused of defaming the character of the former Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai. However, we got a warrant from the court to invite them for questioning.
“So, the fact of the matter is that there was a petition against Peoples Gazette, and they are not above the law. So, if someone had written a petition against them, the right thing to do is to invite them, and that was what we did. We invited them for further investigation, and we carried the Nigerian Union of Journalists along on this matter. We’re not taking any action behind the NUJ, and there is also a warrant from the court to invite Peoples Gazette for questioning.
“We have no malicious intent for inviting them. Our officers went to Peoples Gazette office this morning to invite them to come to give a statement in response to the petition at the Utako police station. And as I speak to you, the NUJ Secretary is with them at the Utako police station as they’re making their statements.”
The newspaper on June 23 reported that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission raided and recovered items including 50 luxury watches from a purported residence of Buratai.
