CLOs demand release of arrested Imo journalist

Forum 9 months ago

CLOs demand release of arrested Imo journalist

A coalition of Civil Liberty Organisations has called for the release of an Owerri-based broadcast journalist, Chinonso Uba, popularly known as NonsoNkwa.

Uba was on Thursday morning arrested in Owerri, the Imo State capital, by some policemen.

But in a statement issued jointly by the CLOs on Friday, they condemned the use of state power to clamp down on journalists doing their constitutional duties.

The statement was signed by RULAC, Sterling Law Centre, Centre for Human Rights Advocacy and Wholesome Society, Everybody Must Serve Campaign For Human Rights, Justice for Peace and Development Initiative, Nnaemeka Ejiofor & Associates, The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law and Life Wire International Foundation.

The statement read inpart, “(The) Nigeria police should immediately release human rights defender and journalist, Theodore Chinonso Uba, also known as NonsoNkwa, drop all charges against him, and cease further efforts to intimidate him and his family, the Nigerian Human Rights Coalition said today.”

According to eyewitnesses, Uba was abducted at about 11am on Thursday by masked men in two vehicles in front of Maria Assumpta Cathedral in Owerri on his way home from work.

“We are convinced that NonsoNkwa is being targeted for his work as a journalist, his criticism of the Imo State government as well as the spate of killings by both state and non-state actors in the state,” the CLOs added.