UPDATE: Another online publisher arrested (Source Point Blank News)

“Mr. Emeka Asiwe of huhuonline.com was on tuesday picked up at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos by officials of the State Security Services, SSS.
Asiwe who had arrived Nigeria from the United State to visit his sick mother was arrested shortly after arriving the country on charges that he is among online publishers declared wanted by the Government of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Jonathan Elendu was released from custody yesterday but we are still not sure how FREE he really is and until then we must assume that there are a number of restrictions placed on him which is unacceptable and therefore he is NOT FREE. Nigerian Curiosity explains this further…

Unfortunately, although he is now receiving medical attention, Elendu is not actually free. His passport was not returned to him and therefore he is not free to return to his family in Michigan. Although he is no longer in detention, Elendu remains detained in Nigeria by the Nigerian government because without his travel documents, he does not have the right to leave Nigeria and return tohis residence in Michigan.

Jonathan Elendu’s detention needs to be seen in the context of a history of constant harassment of Nigerian and foreign journalists dating back to the military regimes that governed the country from the civil war period until 1997 and through the two post military regimes of Obasanjo and now Yar’Adua.

A number of comments by bloggers and readers have described the arrest as a regression back to those ugly military days but if one scrapes the surface a clear pattern and culture of media repression and torture emerges throughout the post Abacha civilian period. As one blogger mentioned recently in respect of the closure of Channels TV, our memories soon fade. What should have been a warning on censorship was, to a large extent, seen as an isolated case. Definitely the outrage at media censorship from the blogoshere was nothing like with the case of Elendu. Possibly this was due to the fact Channels TV may have made an error which is no small matter but it certainly does not warrant not only the closure but the Nazi SS tactics displayed by the SSS.
[Read more…]

Jonathon Elendu is Free and receiving medical attention. Nigerian Curiosity received the news from his family and he is now receiving medical treatment. This is excellent news for Elendu, his family and friends but there are still many questions to be answered by the Nigerian government not least of all the continued summary arrest and detention of journalists.

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Nigerian Curiosity is maintaining regular contact with Jonathon Elendu’s family and is publishing regular updates on his detention. The reports are reminiscent of the ugly days of Abacha when disappearance, detention and torture of journalists, activists, politicians, writers, and just about anyone who dared to dissent, where regular occurrences. This latest update reports that Elendu is no longer in SSS custody but has been transferred to the custody of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which is responsible for corruption. As NG asks, how do you go from being charged with sedition and money laundering to corruption in one week?

Meanwhile the Nigeria’s Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) write that Elendu has been tortured whilst in custody.

According to Nigeria’s Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA), detained Nigerian blogger, Jonathan Elendu has been “tortured to either disclose the sources of the several embarrassing news reports on prominent political leaders in Nigeria” and is on a hunger strike because he is afraid that he will be poisoned in jail. HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Mr. Onwubike also said that Elendu “was also being reportedly pressured into framing up some others.”

FRIDAY 31ST OCTOBER - FREE JONATHON ELENDU DAY

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The above photo posted by Kayode Ogundamisi on his Facebook blog is allegedly the son of President Y’aradua published on Sahara Reporters which is fast gaining fame and no doubt fortune from publishing similar photos of Nigeria’s “royal” family.

Kayode writes:

Dear All,
Thanks to the citizens platform Saharareporters.com we now can see the mentality of Mr President Umoru Musa Yaradua and His goons in Aso Rock and how reckless those in power let kids run amock in the presidency.
The pics you are about to see bellow’s been published on SR. I am bringing them to you on Face Book with permission from the peoples platform S.R to send a message to the Nigerian government that the clampdown on bloggers at home and in the diaspora by the Yaradua Government and the SSS will never stop us from standing on the side of the people.
The arrest of Elendu on the suspicion of working for Sahara reporters is an indication that the dictator in Yaradua is coming home to roost!
Kayode Ogundamisi.
NB Bellow Pictures that will shock you.

Another contribution to the saga published on various Nigerian Facebook posts and blogs provides another dimension to the Elendu arrests by the SSS whose incompetence is both hysterical and terrible at the same time. The author claims to know members of the SSS who from his description are not the brightest of people and not so bright people with power and guns is very scary indeed. The point though is none of this is particularly surprising. Only those in cuckoo land believed the country had moved on from the mindset of military dictatorship. It’s always been just below the surface and in some areas like the Niger Delta way above ground.

“Jonathan Elendu and the SSS by Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo

The Nigerian State Security Service, the SSS, is so incompetent that they screw up jobs that Ajegunle police department can handle. And you know how bad you have to be to be worse than the Nigerian Police Force.

The arrest of Jonathan Elendu of the Elendureports.com is the latest of these SSS screw ups. Each display of incompetence makes a serious observer say, ‘this SSS sef.’ But this latest one is too pathetic that it is not even funny.

First and foremost, the SSS said they were questioning Mr. Elendu about state secrets that were leaked to online news sites. In fact, the SSS mentioned Saharareporters as the site in question. Any yahoo boy in an internet café in Lagos would tell you that Mr. Elendu does not work for Saharareporters.com. How the almighty SSS failed to know that is not a surprise to all those who know the sham the SSS is?

We might as well say it here that the state secrets in question were pictures of Yar’Adua’s son, Musa, playing with bundles of crispy N1000 Naira notes in his bedroom and riding along the streets of Abuja in a convertible with a 2007 election leftover automatic weapon in his hands. This boy is only 13 years old.
[Read more…]

Via Committee to Protect Bloggers and Nigerian Curiosity

Nigeria’s State Security Service or SSS, the same intelligence agency that shut down Channels TV for legally broadcasting incorrect information about President Yar’Adua, is at it again.

Jonathan Elendu, the writer at Elendu Reports, was arrested by Nigeria’s SSS on Saturday evening upon arrival in Nigeria from the United States. Elendu was reportedly arrested to answer questions because his ‘activities’ have allegedly generated some national security issues. One publication specifically reported that Elendu was arrested for “sponsoring a guerilla news agency.”

He was held for over 24 hours before he was interrogated. A spokesperson for the SSS told the Nigerian media that the “rule of law” would be followed and that Elendu wold be given an opportunity to defend himself, saying,

“Mr. Jonathan Elendu was invited today to answer questions on matters concerning national security which has to do wtih his reports. [sic] We are following the rule of law in whatever we are doing. After the question and answer, we can now establish the facts why he was invited.”

It is not clear whether Elendu has been released or whether he will be held indefinitely. What is clear is that “other on-line publishers who are abroad run the risk of being arrested on their return to Nigeria.” Continue reading

Update
The arrest of Jonathan Elendu is one in a long line of attacks against freedom of the press in Nigeria (arrests, harassments and murder of anyone critical of the government) and one which is particularly characteristic of military dictatorships the remnants of which continue to remain active in the country.

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