LAGOSMARCH 17TH (URHOBOTODAY)-Controversial journalist and Publisher of Secret Reporters, Tega Samson Oghenedoro popularly known by his pen name as Fejiro Oliver,has been arrested by the Nigerian police alongside Prince Kpokpogri.
Orhobotoday.com learnt that the duo were picked up in separate locations by team of policemen on Thursday over allegations of breach of public peace during alleged unauthorized protest which reportedly turned violence in Asaba, the Delta State capital.
Uduaghan who have been at the centre of the drama has been accused of using his influence to hound and gag peaceful protesters.
Recalls however that Uduaghan has in several occasions raised the alarm that Fejiro and his cohorts are blackmailers who had purportedly threaten him openly to bring his name to public disrepute even while he was still serving as governor of the State.
Oliver’s lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, Esq in a petition to Inspector General of Police, IGP, said policemen deployed at behest of Uduaghan had trailed the victim to his base in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State after they had earlier arrested the said Prince Kpokpogri.
Giving a graphic details of how the duo were arrested, Effiong said; “The plain-clothed policemen who were four in number arrived Uyo, Akwa Ibom State in company of one Mr. Prince Kpokpogri who was himself arrested in Delta State before he was forcefully used to trail Tega, his associate to his base in Uyo” .
“Tega was then driven by the policemen in a vehicle with Kpokpogri from Uyo to Delta State”.
Quoting Fejiro Oliver’s wife, the lawyer said available information from the wife of the arrested journalist, Mrs. Edidiong Jewel Tega who contacted me shortly after her husband’s arrest indicates that the arrest is in connection with the recent anti-corruption protest by concerned citizens of Delta State both at home and in the diaspora calling for the investigation, arrest and prosecution of Mr. Uduaghan over his alleged mismanagement of the resources of Delta State during his tenure as the governor of the
state”.
Mr. Tega (Fejiro) who is the publisher of an online media, Secrets Reporters, has been at the forefront of the recent Anti-Uduaghan protest in Delta State and abroad, the petition said.
Continuing, the petitioner said, “the Delta protest which was initially scheduled to hold on the 28th of February, 2017 in Asaba was postponed after he was invited to a meeting by the Delta State Commissioner of Police who
urged that the protest be cancelled due to likelihood of security breach”.
“The postponement became necessary after Pro-Uduaghan protesters wrote a letter to the police indicating their intention to hold a counter/solidarity protest in support of Mr. Uduaghan, on the same date.
The petitioner also said on 8th March, 2017, Tega mobilised other concerned citizens of Delta State and proceeded to the Delta State Governor’s office where they displayed various placards and banners and called for probe into the management of resources during the administration of Uduaghan.
Urging the police to explain the rationale behind the arrest of the duo, the petitioner said; “We demand that the Nigeria Police Force should offer immediate explanation on the legal basis for the arrest of Messrs. Tega and
Kpokpogri.
“It is important for the police to ensure that their constitutional rights are protected, including their rights to remain silent, and be given free access to legal practitioner(s) of their choices, etc.
“The police should not allow Mr. Uduaghan or any other person or persons to use it as a witch-hunting tool against perceived critics and opponents”.
“We therefore ask the police to either release or charge them to court within the next 24 hours”.
It will be recalled that pro-Uduaghan supporters had clashed with the anti-Uduaghan protesters following allegations that the protest was not genuine and ostensibly bankrolled by incumbent Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa.