Saturday 25 October 2008

The Arrest & Hunt for Nigerian Online Publishers

By Hakeem Babalola
Press Freedom

If Jonathan Elendu is involved in money laundering for a South-South governor and in blackmailing a senator with an alleged demand for N20 million to keep some secrets from being published, as reported by Dipo Kehinde of the Compass - then he must face the music. If however the arrest is due to his being critical of the government, then the SSS should be ready to arrest yours truly as well read more

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for an excellent piece.

Anonymous said...

This is what I call a logical write-up. You may not agree with his views but u must admit that he is logical.

By the way, his views coheres with mine on this issue.

Anonymous said...

=Igboamaeze;282244>This is what I call a logical write-up. You may not agree with his views but u must admit that he is logical.

By the way, his views coheres with mine on this issue.

=Igboamaeze;282244>This is what I call a logical write-up. You may not agree with his views but u must admit that he is logical.

By the way, his views coheres with mine on this issue.

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Mazi,
So much 'the rule of law' that you so actively supported with respect to EFCC Farida Waziri.

Anonymous said...

Let us just hope he does not mysteriously come down with HIV or one kind of disease like Abiola after being detained.

Nigeria na wah!



All the money launderers in Nigeria exposed not to long ago in the US for the big guns, (so-called businessmen and women in Nigeria) who picked those ones up?


If Nigeria picks up all the money launderers (Bank-oles) in Nigeria and beyond......Nigeria will definitely become the size of Kuwait or even smaller.

The saga continues.

Anonymous said...

People:
They came for the Jews; I wasn’t a Jew so I said nothing
They came for the Gypsies; I was not a Gypsy so I said nothing
They came for the communists; I was not a communist so I said nothing
They came for the non-natives; I was a native so I said nothing
Then, they came for me but unfortunately everyone else was either dead or too scared to speak up for my freedom.

Prejudice and inability to imbibe certain principles due to narrow interests are among the myriad of reasons why democracy and the rule of law will never flourish in Nigeria. It is the same reason why people who suffered under military regimes in the most humiliating of conditions are the ones who are worse abusers of human rights once they find themselves in the corridors of power.

Here is the point: political maturity under democracy requires that you stand up for the rule of law and fairness even for individuals or groups you hate to the core. The same mechanism by which their rights are denied will be used against you or someone dear to you sooner, rather later.

Such is the revolving door of injustice in Nigeria, is it not?

Cheers,

Nkire

Anonymous said...

Sound the drums Nkire ...... Sound it loud for us to get used to the beat for it is sure to beat sometime in the future.. and I reckon very soon. The only problem is that the average Nigerian spends 99.9% of his time battling for breath & daily existence and hardly has any strength (some may add character, in the face of constant dehumanisation...remember "ROOTS") left to stand up to any ideal. More so when he sees & believes that his standing up will not make an iota of difference. This to me is where our work begins, to build the dream; the knowledge; the courage; the confidence; the strength and the resilience. Standing up together, purposeful and determined to change the world...knowing we might not get there in this lifetime but pleased that the journey has at least started and hope that those behind would hold on.

This is the "Audacity of Hope". We are all living witnesses to what can happen within a century.

Anonymous said...

Your incredible story Shut Down all Media Houses is a reason for the SSS to arrest you on arrival and I will end up doing this same thing. Isn't that the only issue? Publish trash or not, we must defend our right to publish.

Nigerian VIPs (Fela's version) enjoy the simple pleasures of abroad but go back home to behave like cavemen. The government wants to stop all the gossip and rumors? They must open the closet and stop the distorted Chinese whisper form of information!

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Jonathan Elendu, or his arraignment before a court of competent jurisdiction, if he is suspected to have contravened any laws of the land’.

Anonymous said...

I recall that one of the reasons given by Sowore in January of 2006 when he parted ways with Elendu was the fact that Elendu had started to pander to the politicians and has lost sight of the battle. It is becoming evident that this is the truth and I hope that we will find out the whole truth about this arrest with time. I don't believe that he was arrested just because he runs an internet news site, there is more to it than meets the eye. Thanks for your fine insight. It's always a pleasure reading your articles.

Cheers,
Tonye Tom Harry
Port-Harcourt
Rivers State