{"id":24475,"date":"2020-05-28T07:50:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T07:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=24475"},"modified":"2020-05-28T08:04:02","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T08:04:02","slug":"warri-nuj-demands-apology-from-police-as-publishers-rises-alarm-over-threat-to-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=24475","title":{"rendered":"Warri NUJ Demands Apology from Police as Publisher Raises Alarm Over Threat to Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=19271&amp;ad_type=81&amp;rl=1800\" width=\"336\" height=\"280\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div class=\"adn ads\" data-message-id=\"#msg-a:r-3226613352425541143\" data-legacy-message-id=\"1725a2d11e72c07f\">\n<div class=\"gs\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<div id=\":1ai\" class=\"ii gt\">\n<div id=\":1aj\" class=\"a3s aXjCH \">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">The Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Warri Correspondents&#8217; Chapel has issued the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Squad twenty-four hours ultimatum to tender an unreserved apology to the Union and four of its members who were unlawfully arrested tuesday<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The NUJ handed down the ultimatum after it returned from the Area Command&#8217;s Office in Warri, Delta State.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The NUJ threatened to file a fundamental rights action against the Police if it fails to tender the apology within the next twenty-four hours.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The NUJ said they will file the action because the rights of its members were infringed upon and their privacies invaded.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">In an interview with newsmen, the NUJ Chairman, Comrade Okies Veeky condemned the invasion of its Press Centre by the IGP&#8217;s Squad in the strongest terms possible.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;With all due respect, we the members of the NUJ, Warri Correspondents&#8217; chapel, we are disappointed at the actions of the so-called policemen who picked up our members unlawfully because up till this moment, we do not know why they were picked up.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;If not for the intervention of the Commissioner of Police and some of our friends, we won&#8217;t be saying this now.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;We condemn in very strong terms the activities of the so-called police who claim they are from the IGP&#8217;s office. We have been here waiting for them. They asked us to come in at 10am. We mobilized here at 10am, it is more than two hours. They are nowhere to be found.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;It is on record now that they have escaped from their duties. We are calling on the appropriate authorities, especially the IGP to call his men to order, allow journalists to do their work. Stop this harassment of our members. We will not take it likely. From now on, we will release all the arsenals at our disposal to show that we are unhappy with the actions.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The Delta State NUJ Chairman, Comrade Michael Ikeogwu said, &#8220;for us in Delta State NUJ, we are very concerned about the unprofessional display of these so-called policemen from the IGP.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Comrade Ikeogwu was represented by Comrade Felix Ekwu, an ex-officio 1, of the State NUJ at the Warri Area Command today.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">He said,&#8221; For the fourth estate of the realm who more or less speak for the members of the society to be so harassed and intimidated like this, it shows the extent to which this country has deteriorated to, nobody is safe.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;So we urge the police authority to investigate the matter. We smell foul play in the actions carried out by these policemen.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;From interactions at the Area Command, it appears that the supposed policemen are ghosts, and appear not to have left traces.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"yj6qo\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hi\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><strong>Below is a statement by Cletus Opukeme Publisher\/ Editor-in- Chief, Daily Watch<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=19271&amp;ad_type=81&amp;rl=1800\" width=\"336\" height=\"280\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><strong>THREAT TO MY LIFE<\/strong><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">My attention has been drawn to a clandestine move by Niger Delta Minister Godwill Akpabio who is the supervising minister of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) using crooked Inspector General Police (IGP) Boys to abduct me and do whatever thing they were instructed to do to\u00a0 me over Daily Watch exposes of the\u00a0 monumental fraud in NDDC running to billions of naira that had attracted the Senate and National House or Reprsentative to set up various committees to probe the commission Interim Management Committee.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Yesterday,the IGP boys\u00a0 from Abuja traced me from Abuja to the office of the Nigerian Union of journalists office in Warri,Delta State and in a commando like manner abducted Mr. Matthew Omonigho away who later called that he was dumped at Area Commander office Warri.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The Union leadership sent a delegation to the police station to know why he was arrested without reason for his arrest and bundled away like a common criminal and manhandled.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The police instead of listening to the NUJ delegation confisticated all their phones and detained them also<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The Police told them that they were special squad sent from Abuja to arrest Mr. Cletus Opukeme, the Publisher\/ Editor-in-Chief of Daily Watch.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">I want to categorically warn that the so called crooked IGP paid boys and other security operatives should stay away from Daily Watch publications. That if Senator Godswill Akpabio or any other person feel aggrieved by our published storis. They know the right option which is to seek for redress as the court is there for them to sue Daily Watch publisher and allow the judiciary to determine our publication whether it is libelous and defamatiory. It is not the place of DSS ,the IGP boys or any other security operatives to be used to intimidate Daily Watch over our genuine investigations which first exposed large scale of financial missapproriation in NDDC. Senator Akpabio has turned NDDC to a cash cow looting the common wealth of the people of Niger Delta and intimidation or arrest by IGP Boys \/DSS cannot frighten us from doing what we know how to do best by informing the public the right information.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The invasion of Warri NUJ office by the crooked\u00a0 IGP TEAM to arrest a journalist is an embarrassment to democracy in the country as journalists have freedom of expression enshrined on the nation&#8217;s constitution.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">If Akpabio is aggrieved by our publications for exposing his massive looting, he should go to court and stop intimidating me with the\u00a0 police and ex-militants to gag the press from doing our Constitutional duties<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The said IG squad called one of the arrested journalists to direct them to Cletus Opukeme&#8217;s residence who identified himself as Reuben with the following phone<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">one Reuben with mobile phone number:08116912068\u00a0 quoting the reporter &#8221;One Mr. Reuben just called now requesting to know if\u00a0 I have been able to see Cletus. I told him that he only called me this morning wherein I asked him to be at the Area Command with me in solidarity and he refused. Again, he asked if I know any link with which they could get him and I said No. He later cut the call&#8221;<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Therefore, I am calling the Inspector General of Police Mr. Mohammed Adamu to hold Niger Delta minister Godswill Akpabio and the members of the NDDC\u00a0 Interim management committee responsible, if anything happens to my life and my members of my immediate family.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The same similar threats were being made by unidentified members over campaign against Akpabio&#8217;s massive looting by Izanzan which after a protest was made against Akpabio and his NDDC IMC within a week assassins shot dead the vibrand and resourceful spokesman Comrade Famous Believe on the 18th May 2020 which police is investigating the murderers till now.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Signed<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Cletus Opukeme<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Publisher\/ Editor-in- Chief<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Daily Watch<\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=19271&amp;ad_type=81&amp;rl=1800\" width=\"336\" height=\"280\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Warri Correspondents&#8217; Chapel has issued the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Squad twenty-four hours ultimatum to tender an unreserved apology to the Union and four of its members who were unlawfully arrested tuesday The NUJ handed down the ultimatum after it returned from the Area Command&#8217;s Office in Warri, Delta [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[5815,3892],"class_list":["post-24475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-cletus-opukeme","tag-michael-ikeogwu"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/press.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-6mL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24475"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24480,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24475\/revisions\/24480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}