Gombe Govt House Wall: NNPP Condemns Detention of Cleric, Arrest Of Journalist
Gombe State Chapter of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), has condemned the arrest of Radio Nigeria Jewel FM presenter Yakubu Haliru, and continued detention of a cleric, Malam Ahmed Mandi, who is also a member of its party.
According to a press statement signed by Muhammad Makko, State Publicity Secretary of NNPP, the Arrest of the duo and eventual release of Haliru was unfortunate.
Our Correspondent reports that Haliru who hosts an indigenous radio show, had Mandi as guest who was allegedly said to have quoted about N4b as cost of building Gombe State Government House walls, a position the authorities claim was untrue.
The party PRO said, “The NNPP condemns in the strongest terms the arrest and 24 hours incarceration of Yakubu Halliru an On-Air-Personality with Jewel Fm Gombe as well as the continuous detention of Malam Ahmed Mandi, member of our Party and strong supporter of our gubernatorial candidate by security agents acting the script designed by to the Inuwa Yahaya led Gombe state Government.
“The arrest of Yakubu Halliru is particularly worrisome considering he simply did his job as a journalist by anchoring a programme where an invited guest made presentations based on his self recognition, the responsibility of which he never shirked. The state government can’t claim ignorance of the fact that there exists an almost unsaid rule that indemnifies On-air anchors for opinions shared by guests, especially since the NBC has not flagged the station for any violations. The actions of the state government amount to a very crude form of press gagging and the NNPP rejects it as obnoxious, condemnable and totally unacceptable.”
While urging for the immediate release of Mandi, the party lamented the government’s effort to trample on the rights of residents of the state.
“The party also condemns the continues incarcerated of Malam Mandi whose freely donated opinion has been used as an excuse by trigger-happy security agents to detain an innocent journalist. It must be said that if the Gombe state Government had followed due process in the award of the white Elephant project, the cost of which was used as an excuse to lock up two innocent citizens, there would have been no need for anyone to quote bogus numbers because the total contract sum would have been public knowledge, making any attempt to inflate it a case of calculated mischief. You don’t shroud public expenditure in secrecy and expect the masses not to plug the gap of silence with whatever they can lay their hands on.
“In light of the above, the NNPP rejects the self-righteous card at play and insist that to come to equity, Inuwa Yahaya must first put his hands forward for thorough examination. And since the Gombe state Government erred in the contract award process, it has lost the moral ground to accuse anyone of bandying outrageous numbers. Even though constructing the perimeter fence represents the very height of misplaced priority, our Party is well aware that the people of Gombe are still very much interested in knowing the full contract sum and it is only right for the state government to make these numbers available and desist from further harassing anyone trying to call them to account,” Makko said.
“It is in view of the above that the NNPP urges the Gombe state Commissioner of Police to, as a matter of urgency, cause the immediate release of the duo of Yakubu Halliru and Malam Ahmed Mandi or charge the to court because their incarceration has exceeded the legally accepted police custody period. Let it be known that the NNPP will not stand by and allow the APC in Gombe to turn the state into a Banana Republic,” the statement added.
