The Campaign Organisation of the Ogun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka (GNICO) and Centre for Media Rights Advocates (CMRA) have condemned the arrest and detention of an Abuja-based blogger, Emmanuel Ojo by the police in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital at the weekend, acting on the instruction of Governor Ibikunle Amosun.
Ojo was said to have been trailed and arrested in a gestapo like by the Chief Security Officer of the governor who led some security agencies attached to Amosun at Ibara, Abeokuta and was detained at Ibara police station, few meters away from the Government House.
Isiaka who spoke through the Director of Publicity of his campaign organisation, Comrade Ifekayode Akinbode said Ojo was arrested for a story exposing the alleged quizzing of Mrs. Olufunso Amosun in London for money laundering.
The story was said to have been posted by a foreign-based blogger and pasted on Ojo’s facebook wall by hackers suspected to be working with Ogun APC with intention to implicate Ojo.
Ojo had since denied knowledge of the story and made it known to the public that his Facebook wall was hacked by his detractors working to silence him because of his hard stance on Amosun.
In the story Mrs. Amsoun who has since denied the story was alleged of being detained by London police for being in possession of US300,000.
Akinbode said since the day the story was found on Ojo’s Facebook walls that he had been haunted by Amosun thugs working in conjunction with police attached to the Government House.
He said, “It is unbecoming of Amosun who has been intolerant of opposition and critics to go after Ojo and frustrate all efforts to secure his bail since Saturday. We know SF Ojo as a critic of prolifigacy and bad governance going on in Ogun State and it is sad to note that Amsoun would think nobody will criticize and make public his various lies.
“If Ojo’s Facebook was hacked and the story of how Amsoun’s wife was arrested for money laundering in London was pasted there and the government has denied it, why must Amosun’s Chief Security Officer still went after Ojo, harassed his wife and got him arrested.
“The attempt is to silence his critics and send fears to journalists in the state to stop reporting anti-Amosun stories. But he has failed! Nobody in Ogun State needed to be told the story of inflated projects that increased the state debt profile to over N200 billion.
“It is a common knowledge in Nigeria that Amosun is among the richest governors in Nigeria that refused to make public his asset declaration despite the fact that his self-acclaimed mentor, President Muhammadu Buhari has declared his assets. It is a common knowledge that Amsoun is building the best personal house in Ogun State that costs over N7b at Ibara Housing Estate in Abeokuta and we know his salary since he became governor in 2011.
“It is also laughable that Amosun who blackmailed his predecessor in office, Otunba Gbenga Daniel to the extent of using photoshop to superimpose Daniel’s head on Nollywood actor’s body to give false impression about Daniel could go ahead to arrest a blogger over an harmless story his boys planted on Ojo’s Facebook walls to implicate him.
“But we want to assure Amosun that instead of being cowed, this is just the beginning of exposing many under-hand dealings many did not know about his government.”
In its own reaction, CMRA demanded for the immediate release of Ojo and warned the police that they would be held responsible if anything happened to Ojo.
A statement signed yesterday by the Executive Director of the organisation, Dr. Bidemi Adegbite condemned the gestapo approach of Amosun’s Chief Security Officer in arresting Ojo who the police could have invited for questioning.
CMRA warned the police against being used by the politicians to infringe on the rights of Nigerians from freely expressing themselves.
The organisation also called on the Inspector General of police to order Ojo’s release with immediate effect and warned police at Ogun State Command to desist from acting as a stooge to the All Progressive Congress (APC).
