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AI Index: AFR 44/25/97
28 November 1997
Further information on UA 347/97 (AFR 44/21/97, 5 November 1997) and follow-up (AFR 44/22/97, 20 November) - Fear of ill-treatment / Legal concern
NIGERIA Mohammed Adamu, bureau chief in Abuja for
African Concord news
magazine
Soji Omotunde, editor, African Concord
Adetokunbo Fakeye, defence correspondent,
PM News newspaper
Jenkins Alumona, editor, The News magazine
Onome Osifo-Whiskey, managing editor, Tell
Magazine
Babafemi Ojudu, managing editor, The News
newspaper group
new names: Ben Adaji, Taraba State correspondent,
The News magazine
Rafiu Salau, administrative manager, The News
group
Akinwumi Adesokan, writer and journalist
Further arrests of newspaper employees in recent weeks have been reported.
On 12 November 1997 Akinwumi Adesokan was arrested at Nigeria's border with the Republic of Benin.He is an author, literary correspondent for the Post Express newspaper, a former literary correspondent of The News, and an Association of Nigerian Authors award-winner in 1996.He was arrested as he returned from nearly a year on writing fellowships in the United States of America and in Austria.
Another journalist and an administrative manager of the newspaper group which publishes The News magazine and Tempo and PM News newspapers have been arrested.On 17 November 1997 Ben Adaji, a correspondent of The News magazine, was reportedly arrested in Jalingo, capital of Taraba State, northeast Nigeria.No reason for his arrest has been given but it follows the publication of a report in The News about inter-communal killings in October 1997 in Taraba State following intervention by the military authorities in local government disputes.Rafiu Salau, administrative manager of The News group, was reportedly arrested on 18 November 1997. He had gone to the offices of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) in Apapa, Lagos, to make inquiries about the whereabouts of Adetokunbo Fakeye, arrested on 4 November.
On 21 November 1997, This Day newspaper reported the release on 20 November of its publisher and editor-in-chief Nduka Obaigbena, who had been arrested and detained without charge or trial since 14 November in the capital, Abuja, before being transferred to detention by the DMI in Lagos.No further appeals are necessary on his behalf.
The other people named above remain in detention. Action for them may continue as specified in update of 20 November.
No details of an amnesty for political detainees announced by the head of state have yet been made public.On 17 November 1997, General Sani Abacha, in a statement to mark the fourth anniversary of the coup which brought him to power in 1993, announced an amnesty for detainees "whose release would constitute no further impediment to the peace and security of our country".
FURTHER RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/telexes/faxes/express/ airmail letters in English or in your own language: - expressing concern at the arrest of Akinwumi Adesokan, Ben Adaji and Rafiu Salau; - asking why they were arrested and continue to be held in detention without charge or trial; - expressing concern that they may be subjected to ill-treatment in detention, and urging that they be given immediate access to their families, lawyers and doctors of their own choice; - expressing concern that they may be prisoners of conscience and calling for their immediate and unconditional release if they are not to be charged with recognizably criminal offences and promptly and fairly tried.
APPEALS TO:
General Sani Abacha
Chairman, Provisional Ruling Council
State House, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
Telegrams: General Abacha, Abuja, Nigeria
Faxes: + 234 9 523 2138
Salutation: Dear General
Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, National Security Adviser
State Security Service (SSS), Federal Headquarters
Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
Telegrams: National Security Adviser, SSS, Abuja, Nigeria
Salutation: Dear Sir
Major-General Abdulsalam A. Abubakar
Chief of Defence Staff
Provisional Ruling Council, State House
Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
Telegrams: Chief of Defence Staff, Abuja, Nigeria
Salutation: Dear Major-General
COPIES TO:
Chief Tom Ikimi
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maputo Street
PMB 130, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
Mr Justice P.K. Nwokedi, Chairman
National Human Rights Commission
National Assembly Complex, Maitama
PMB 444, Garki
Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
The Editor, Today, PO Box 10281, Kaduna, Nigeria
The Editor, This Day, PO Box 54749, Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria
The Editor, The Guardian, PMB 1217, Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria
The Editor, PM News, PMB 21531, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria
and to diplomatic representatives of Nigeria accredited to your country.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, London WC1X
8DJ, United Kingdom tel +44 171 413 5500, fax +44 171
956 1157 e-mail: afr-west@amnesty.org Internet: http://www.amnesty.org
[The material contained in this communication comes to you via IRIN West Africa, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN-WA Tel: +225 21 73 66 Fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci for more information or subscription. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this report, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. IRIN reports are archived on the Web at: http://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to archive@dha.unon.org . Mailing list: irin-wa-extra]
Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19971201091541.00cdfb14@africaonline.co.ci> Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 09:15:41 +0000 From: UN DHA IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci> Subject: Nigeria: AI Urgent Action Nigerian journalists 97.12.01
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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