By Jide Osokoya
Fresh reports reaching P.M.News from Abuja this morning has revealed that the publisher of an online news agency, Mr. Jonathan Elendu, was arrested for sponsoring a guerrilla news agency.
It was gathered that the United States-based online publisher, who was arrested on Saturday on arrival in Nigeria, was allegedly linked to Saharareporters, an online Nigerian news agency.
Our source revealed that Sahareporters which is known for alleged subversive reports against the federal government and important personalities in the country, was allegedly the brain child of Elendu.
It was further learnt that when Elendu was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja as soon as he arrived via KLM Airline around 7.30 p.m. on Saturday, he was immediately whisked away to the SSS headquarters, Asokoro, Abuja.
Said our sources: "The hefty publisher was accosted on arrival by two SSS operatives who told him that he was being invited for a chat with their boss, he responded that since it was an invitation, they should give him time to go home and freshen up.
"The security operatives turned down his request, seized his international passport and whisked him away, only for him to remain incommunicado since then."
Elendu's family members expressed concern and worry over the state of his health, as nobody has been able to communicate with him since Saturday.
As at the time of this report, his lawyers were preparing papers to fight for the enforcement of his fundamental human right.Our Note:
The cowardly act of harassing and arresting citizens for exercising their fundamental freedoms is totally condemnable and we hope that Nigerians at home and abroad we condemn the violation of the rights of Mr. Jonathan Elendu by the illegitimate Yar'adua regime. However, we should state that Mr. Elendu is not connected with the SaharaReporters in any shape or form, he publishes an independent blog (Elendureports) that predates SaharaReporters, arresting, detaining and harrasing an innocent Nigerian based on the suspicion that he works for SaharaReporters is not only condemnable, but also fruitless, since no amount of such callous acts will deter or restrict the publication of hard -hitting evidence-based reports from our ever reliable team members.
http://saharareporters.com/www/news/detail/?id=751
