Police Arrests & Fly Journalist To Abuja Over Facebook Post

Some plain-clothed policemen on Friday arrested a journalist situated in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Jerry Edoho and whisked him to Abuja.

The young journalist, who is the Deputy Editor of Ibom Nation Newspaper, a local publication, was arrested by the security agents and persuasively taken to the Federal Capital over a post he professedly set up on his Facebook page involving Dana Air.

Edoho, had while responding to a photo of an implied crash including a Dana flight heading to Lagos from Abuja in which he was labeled, looked for elucidation from companions on his rundown to affirm the realness of the story.

He had composed, "Rumor via social media (Facebook) has it that Dana Air enroute Abj-Lag with 153 passengers crashed killing all on board. Please could someone help verify the authenticity of this shocking report? Below is (the) pix from the scene as uploaded on my wall."

But following a request of by Dana Air to the police dominant presences in Abuja after the said photo turned into a hotly debated issue of examination among an area of Facebook clients; Edoho was captured in Uyo on Friday and taken to the FCT on a Dana flight booked to leave by 4pm.

Human rights legal advisor, Inibehe Effiong, who affirmed the episode to the press around 8pm on Friday in the blink of an eye before leaving Uyo for Lagos, said he saw three regular clothes security officers coercively taking Edoho away while still at the Ibom International Airport, Uyo.

He said, "Jerry Edoho located me at the Ibom International Airport, Uyo, and cautioned me that he was being taken coercively to Abuja by a group of regular clothes security men over a production on Facebook.

"He let me know that he was labeled in a post about the late reputed crash of a Dana plane, which was false. That, after being labeled, he made a post like a few different Nigerians asking whether the crash report was valid. The security men were to pass on him to Abuja by means of a Dana flight that was booked to withdraw by 4pm.

"The security men went up against me for talking with him 'without their authorization.' I countered that Mr. Edoho is a subject of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and that his entitlement to opportunity of expression can't be taken away. This brought about a quarrel amongst me and the security men whose character I can't quickly determine. I comprehend that his capture took after an appeal to by Dana Air to the Nigeria Police Force.

"I am utilizing this stage to ask both the police and the administration of Dana Air to regard the major privileges of Mr. Edoho. He ought to be discharged on safeguard pending the finish of examination concerning whatever claims that have been made against him. This is a majority rules system, not an autocracy."

Whenever reached, Spokesperson for Dana Air, Mr. Kingsley Ezenwa, said he didn't know about the issue yet that he would return to our reporter when he could affirm the matter. His reaction was all the while being normal as of the time the paper went to press.