FreeSamuelOgundipe, Falana Tell Premium Times To Take The Police To Court, On Arrest Of Ogundipe, It's Reporter

Mr. Femi Falana SAN

Mr. Femi Falana, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN and Human Rights Lawyer, has lent his weight behind the calls for the immediate release of Samuel Ogundipe, a PremiumTimes reporter.

Mr. Samuel Ogundipe was arrested on Tuesday over a report on the NPF published on the sack of Lawal Daura, former director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS).

According to media reports, the police had reportedly asked Ogundipe to disclose the source of the letter he obtained that was used for a story but the journalist had declined to do so, in line with the ethics of Journalism.

The Human Rights Lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, in a statement issued on Tuesday, called on PremiumTimes to institute a legal action in court against the Nigerian Police Force, regardless of whether Mr Ogundipe is subsequently released or kept in prison.

READ ALSO: #FreeSamuelOgundipe - Premium Times Demands Release Of Reporter, Samuel Ogundipe By Police

Mr Falana's statement read:

“Whether Samuel is released tonight or arraigned in court tomorrow by the police, PT should take advantage of this unlawful demand of the police to challenge criminal libel and other obnoxious anti-press laws in the statute book.

“While declaring seditious publications illegal and unconstitutional in 1983 in Arthur Nwankwo v The State; the Court of Appeal held that any public officer who feels defamed or embarrassed by any publication should sue for libel and not use the machinery of the State to harass his political opponents.

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“The court proceeded to urge Nigerians to resist any attempt to use any of the laws imported into the country by the erstwhile colonial rulers to repress us.”

Related Topics: #FreeSamuelOgundipe, #NigeriaPolice, #IbrahimIdris, #PVCIsaGoal, #News, #FemiFalana

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