US embassy cable - 05ABUJA1142

UNCLAS ABUJA 001142 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, ASEC, KCRM, NI 
SUBJECT: STOP THE PRESSES: KOGI STATE POLICE REACT 
BADLY TO ARTICLE THAT EMBARRASSED POLICE COMMISSIONER 
 
REF: ABUJA 1140 
 
1.   Summary:  Following the publication of an article 
in three Nigerian newspapers that reported a Kogi State 
police commissioner's humiliation by armed bandits, 
Kogi State police occupied the headquarters of the 
Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the state 
capital.  There, they harassed, intimidated, and even 
arrested journalists, and they continued to occupy the 
building for nearly a week.  Although incidents of 
press harassment are not uncommon in Nigeria, this 
incident has cast a much larger shadow than usual.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.   On June 20, three Nigerian newspapers reported an 
incident of highway robbery in Kogi State, in which the 
state Commissioner of Police, dressed in civilian 
clothes, was stopped, robbed, and humiliated.  For 
example, the "Vanguard" newspaper ran the story on page 
5 with a headline of "Robbers order Kogi Police boss to 
frog jump."  (Note:  "Frog jumping" requires the victim 
to hold his ears, squat, and jump up and down.  If he 
lets go of his ears, he is immediately whipped or 
beaten.  The practice is commonly associated with 
Nigerian military abuse of civilians.  End Note.) 
 
3.   Later on June 20, a detachment of police, 
accompanied by agents of the State Security Service 
(SSS), occupied the headquarters of the NUJ in Lokoja, 
the state capital, in an effort to find and arrest the 
journalists who had written the articles.  Journalists 
entering the premises were interrogated and otherwise 
harassed, and an unknown number of journalists were 
arrested.  A member of the NUJ Kogi State Executive 
Council confirmed to us that those in custody were 
released without charges. 
 
4.   On June 22, police invited the NUJ Kogi State 
chairman, Segun Omolehin, to a meeting to resolve the 
impasse.  When Omolehin arrived at the meeting, police 
arrested him and held him overnight, then released him 
without charges.  Omolehin announced that he had been 
beaten by other inmates on the orders of police 
officers. 
 
5.   The journalists who wrote the June 20 stories have 
gone into hiding.  Later in the week, the police and 
SSS agents left the NUJ building. 
 
6.   Background:  In early April in Kogi State, the 
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had used the NUJ 
headquarters to accuse the same Commissioner of Police 
of committing gross human rights abuses in the state 
(reftel).  The NBA demanded the commissioner's firing, 
but the commissioner fired back that lawyers in the 
state "abetted criminals."  Although the commissioner 
was due to retire in May, he remains in office.  End 
Background. 
 
7.   Comment:  Although incidents of press harassment 
are not uncommon in Nigeria, this incident has cast a 
much larger shadow than usual.  Typical harassment 
involves an embarrassed public official ordering police 
to arrest or beat a journalist, or security agents 
seizing a print run of a publication.  It is unusual 
for a high-profile incident of press intimidation to 
continue for so long.  The occupation of the NUJ 
headquarters also marks a new "strategy" by police. 
Previously, security agents had normally targeted 
individual publications or individual journalists, 
rather than the entire journalists' association.  End 
Comment. 
 
CAMPBELL