STOP THE MANHUNT AND HARASSMENT OF THE GUARDIAN'S RALPH OMOLOLU-AGBANA

STOP THE MANHUNT AND HARASSMENT OF THE GUARDIAN'S RALPH OMOLOLU-AGBANA

Debo Alabi
By

On Friday May 31, 2019, the public domain in Kogi State was greeted by the news (true or fake) that Edward Onoja, the self-styled Chief of Staff to Governor Yahaya Bello, had been arrested by security agents, following a report by Admiral Jibrin Usman, former Chief of Naval Staff; that Intelligence sources had picked credible evidence to the effect that a group of Niger Delta ex-militants were planning an attack on the person of Admiral Usman, who is an aspirant for the gubernatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC, at the August 2019 governorship primaries; that upon the arrest and interrogation of the militants, they  volunteered in their confessional statements that they were acting on the instructions of Onoja. Those familiar with the trajectory of Onoja know his stint in public office in Kogi State has been characterised by serial controversies bothering on desperate brigandage, crude thuggery, raw violence and high-handedned authoritarianism.
Admiral Usman would not take chances, against the backdrop of the broad-daylight murder of Air Chief Marshal Alexander Sabundu Badeh, the former Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, just about six months ago, without the arrest or prosecution of suspects. He reported the security threat to the appropriate security agency which took in Onoja for 24 hours beginning Friday May 31, 2019. It took the fervid intervention of Onoja's boss, Gov Bello, who pulled every string available to ensure the release of his agent, Onoja on bail, on Saturday June 1, 2019.
Onoja's arrest was in the public domain, so news outlets, particularly the terrestrial ones, published the story.
The Guardian newspaper, the flagship of Nigerian journalism, refrained from publishing the story within the first 72 hours after it broke, until confirmation came from the potential victim himself, Admiral Jibrin Usman. He made the point that retired military officers have become an endangered specie in the hands of desperate politicians, as evidenced by the yet unresolved killing of ACM Badeh. There is indeed the issue of the September 2018 elimination of Maj Gen Idris Alkali in Plateau State.
On Tuesday June 4, 2019, The Guardian published the story. The correspondent who filed the story, Ralph Omololu-Agbana, who has grossed over two decades on the reportorial beat, garnering experience through Thisday and The Guardian, respectively, is very highly regarded by his employers for factual, in-depth and professional reportage and analysis. Speculation, sensationalism and frivolity have never been aspects of his authorial style.
On June 5, 2019, however, the DSS issued a rebuttal, signed by PN Afunanya, to the effect that Onoja was not arrested and not remanded in custody. It was a new spin to the saga.

On June 6, 2019, P F Joseph, a partner in Femjoe Associates (legal practitioners), with its office in Kabba, Kogi State, sent a petition to the Kogi Commissioner of Police, calling for the arrest and arraignment of Omololu-Agbana for 'cyber-stalking, public incitement and criminal defamation.'
Since this multi-pronged hunt for the typically easy-going unassuming correspondent of The Guardian, his whereabouts have remained unknown, fuelling fears and anxiety about his security and safety.
In all of these, however, pertinent questions arise requiring immediate answers:

* Is this a continuation of the graduated clampdown on the media by the incumbent administration? The Abuja offices of Daily Trust were invaded by security agents January 6, 2019, because the newspaper published a report that the Nigerian military was planning to retake Baga in Borno State, whereas the military had earlier claimed that no part of the Borno State territory was in the grips of Boko Haram terrorists. Uthman Abubakar and Ibrahim Sawab, North East regional editor and Borno State correspondent of Daily Trust respectively, were arrested, same day.
Just last week on June 6, 2019, the federal government clamped down on Daar Communications Ltd, owners of Raypower Radio and African Independent Television, AIT, for allegedly violating certain aspects of the broadcasting code of ethics.

* Why has Ralph Omololu-Agbana been specifically targeted in this manhunt? Or is it because he has elected to tow the path of uncompromising reportage which has continually unsettled the Bello administration?

* Why hasn't Admiral Jibrin Usman himself, issued a statement or addressed a press conference illuminating the present controversy, especially since he is the subject of it all? Omololu-Agbana didn't report in a vacuum. He spoke with the former CNS.

* Why haven't the security services questioned Admiral Jibrin Usman if they think a false alarm was raised in the media concerning him?

* Why haven't the security services and the legal representatives of Omololu-Agbana engaged his employers, The Guardian, in all of these? Omololu-Agbana works for The Guardian, the news medium which published the story, by the way.

* Why must the security services allow themselves to be procured in the grand cover-up of a matter in the public court? Is Onoja above being questioned  for alleged criminal conspiracy to attack a distinguished Nigerian or for any crime whatsoever?

All well-meaning Nigerians and people of Kogi State alike, must join in the wholesale condemnation of this latest round of fascist clampdown on the media and the unnecessary manhunt for The Guardian's Ralph Omololu-Agbana, which is capable of heating up the polity and precipitating unfathomable backlash.
It must stop, forthwith.

*Debo Alabi, a legal practitioner/indigene of Kogi State writes from Lekki, Lagos.