The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has strongly condemned the detention of the Africa Independent Television (AIT) journalist-cum-presenter, Amechi Anakwe on the orders of Assistant Inspector General of Police in Abuja, Joseph Mbu, warning that “we shall resist any attempt to gag the press or harass any one going about their lawful duty in a peaceful and lawful manner”.
NLC, in the statement signed by its General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo- Eson, said “It is too soon to forget that the media played a leading role in securing the fourth republic for Nigerians. That task was not accomplished by playing the lapdog of everyone”.
While recalling that Mbu said, “The offence of Anakwe is that he had referred to Mbu as “controversial”, which in our view is neither derogatory nor libelous. Even if the word or sentence were otherwise, there are lawful channels of redress. Mbu cannot be judge and prosecutor in his own case,” the Congress asserted: “Freedom of speech is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to which we are all answerable in spite of our station in life”.
It argued that “the arrest and detention of Mr Anekwe is therefore a calculated attempt to muzzle the press and free speech in a democracy. And it does not appear to be an isolated case as a few months earlier, this same Mbu violently broke up the Bring-Back-the -Chibok- Girls Campaign on the basis of a non-existent law, drawing international condemnation of the government.
“His (Mr. Mbu’s) antecedents in Rivers State from where he was deployed to Abuja are not less sinister. Rather than receive a reprimand, Mbu was rewarded with a choice posting and promotion, with not a few speculating that he is being positioned to be IGP,” the Congress added.
NLC further recalled “A few weeks ago, a chest- thumping Mbu had boasted at his hand-over ceremony that he was “the lion that tamed the tiger of Rivers State.
“Much earlier, though unrelated to Mbu, newspaper publications adjudged not to be friendly to the government were routinely seized and destroyed”.
The umbrella labour union explained that it is expedient to “Sound a note of caution on Mr Mbu. His above- the-law attitude to the work of law enforcement gives him out as one that is more inclined to promoting anarchy than the rule of law”.
According to the NLC, “He ( Mbu) does not seem to represent the mainstream 21st century police if his routine primitive, partisan and primordial outbursts are anything to go by. He is a serial embarrassment to the Police Force we need,” stressing that what Nigeria needs “is a Police Force that is concerned with public good, law, order and justice. We doubt Mr Mbu is in the right company”.
NLC concluded the press release by noting thus: “A word for those that invest and promote lions. Quite often times, they end up in their bellies”.
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