Police arraign newspaper publisher for alleged defamation

TOM Uhia, the publisher of Power Steering newspaper, has been arraigned by the police.

Uhia, until yesterday, was detained by the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Area 10, Abuja over a report critical of the Minister of State for Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba.

The 73-year-old journalist was arrested October 13 following a petition dated July 1 by a lawyer, Obi Nwakor, on behalf of the minister.

He was eventually arraigned before Justice A. B Mohammed of the FCT High Court 19, Gudu, Abuja on Monday.

Among other accusations, Jeddy-Agba is claiming that Uhia defamed him by publishing in his newspaper that he had knowledge of the Dana plane crash of 2012 while serving as a senior manager with the Nigeria Nigerian Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Uhia ought to have been arraigned a long time ago, but he was made to spend 30 days in illegal detention.

According the journalist’s family, the publisher was critically ill but was not also permitted to see his doctor while in detention.

Various right groups and the Nigeria Union of Journalists pressured the police to act within the ambit of the law.

But on Monday, the police filed a 15-count charge bordering on defamation and injurious falsehood.

The journalist’s lawyer, Paul Ogbole, applied for his bail on his health condition and for sake of justice.