DSS ARRESTS CHIDO ONUMA

[Anthony Akinola]

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DSS arrests journalist-activist Chido Onumah

Published September 29, 2019

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Chido Onumah

John Alechenu, Abuja

The  Department of State Services has arrested a journalist-activist, Mr. Chido Onumah.

As reported by various media outlets and also shared on various social media sites, Mr. Onumah, a journalist and author, was arrested at the Abuja airport on Sunday evening.

It was reported that Onumah had just returned to Nigeria from Spain, where he had obtained a PhD in communication studies.

Onumah is the author of a book titled, ‘We Are All Biafrans.’

Meanwhile, activists have condemned Onumah’s arrest and detention.

National Coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association, Emmanuel Onwubiko; and the Executive Director of the Civil Societies Legislative and Advocacy Centre, Awual Musa (Rafsanjani) in separate interviews with The PUNCH, condemned the arrest, describing it as “an affront on civil liberties.”

Onwubiko said, “It is obvious to us now that this country is sliding into a state of tyranny.”

Attempts to get an official reaction from the spokesperson of the DSS, Dr. Peter Afunnaya, were futile.

Calls to his mobile telephone number were neither picked nor returned.

A response to a text message sent to him was still being awaited as at the time of filing this report (7:12pm).

[josie milisci]

This article is very interesting because it is based on the fact that a journalist/ activist was arrested in Nigeria due to his reporting. This article seems unbiased, however, due to the nature of the topic, it would be hard to present all of the facts. From this article, It seems as if media censorship is a big issue in Nigeria, which eliminates the option to publish articles that could potentially cause someone to lose their job, be jailed, or ridiculed. This article does mention the fact that Nigerians did protest the Journalist's arrest, however it does not go into much detail about what they were protesting or what the journalist wrote that caused him to be arrested. Overall, I think this article is important because it brings to light the issue of media censorship through a media source that was probably censored. 

[Pay Prostok]

This article brings out the true threat of censorship journalist face in Nigeria. However, I wish the article would go more in-depth about the content of Onumah's writing. Provided this information I seem to agree with Onwubiko's quote, "It is obvious to us now that this country is sliding into a state of tyranny." Without free speech, Nigeria's people are at risk. This is a global issue, just months ago the assassination of Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, made world news. Journalists should not be afraid thier contents could result in an arrest or even death. 

On Sunday, September 29, 2019 at 5:58:37 PM UTC-5, anthony.a.akinola wrote: