Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has condemned the abduction of Mr. Madu Onuorah, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the independent online news outlet Global Upfront newspaper, by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force. The incident, which occurred on Wednesday, involved a forceful arrest by heavily armed police officers without a warrant, raising serious concerns about the misuse of police power to silence journalists.
Mr. Onuorah was allegedly targeted for defaming a US-based Reverend Sister, a charge that MRA describes as an abuse of the legal system by influential individuals to stifle critical journalism. The organization criticized the police for acting as a “gun for hire” for wealthy and powerful entities, diverting essential security resources from their primary function of protecting citizens and exacerbating violent crime across Nigeria.
At approximately 6:00 pm on May 22, 2024, ten armed policemen stormed Mr. Onuorah’s home in the Lugbe area of Abuja in two Sienna buses. In front of his family, they forcibly arrested him without presenting a warrant or explaining the reason for the arrest. The officers also seized his phones to prevent him from contacting his family, friends, or lawyer. After his arrest, Mr. Onuorah was initially taken to the Lugbe Police Station and later transferred to Enugu.
The Enugu State Police Command, through its spokesman Mr. Daniel Ndukwe, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), stated that Mr. Onuorah was arrested with the assistance of police operatives from Ebonyi State Command following a written petition to the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, over an alleged defamatory publication. ASP Ndukwe claimed that the arrest was conducted after failed attempts to formally invite Mr. Onuorah.
MRA’s Programme Officer, Ms. Esther Adeniyi, dismissed the police’s justification as nonsensical, arguing that the journalist was never invited by the police. She criticized the unnecessary use of public resources to dispatch policemen from Enugu and Ebonyi States to Abuja to arrest a journalist over what should be a civil matter. She noted that a Reverend Sister based in the United States would not resort to criminal defamation laws in her country but did so in Nigeria, exploiting the system to exact personal revenge.
“We are extremely concerned that the Police are wasting government resources to prosecute what should be a civil matter, rather than focusing on critical security issues in the country. Criminal defamation is an outdated practice inconsistent with international norms for protecting freedom of expression and media freedom,” Ms. Adeniyi said.
She highlighted the lack of investigation into the alleged defamatory content to establish its veracity before taking aggressive action against Mr. Onuorah. MRA decried the police’s tactics of arresting journalists in a Gestapo-style manner, transferring them to distant locations, and detaining them without warrants or formal charges.
Ms. Adeniyi expressed relief at Mr. Onuorah’s release but called on the Federal Government, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, and the Inspector-General of Police to end the culture of impunity for rights violations by the police and other security agencies. She urged accountability for those responsible for Mr. Onuorah’s unlawful arrest and detention.