ARREST BY ABDUCTION is becoming the order of the day. Tyranny, intolerance and vendetta are becoming the new way. But it must be noted that authoritarianism is a two-faced sword which eventually harms the wielder. This is the only way to capture the creeping power intoxication being witnessed among our security and intelligence agencies.How about this? Yesterday’s morning, a journalist, Nonso Nkwa Uba, was abducted on the street of Owerri by armed, hooded men.
Nonso had just finished his daily morning press review at Ozisa FM, the Catholic-owned popular radio. He is a talented and fearless presenter who has his ways with the mic. Boasting a huge fan base in Imo and beyond, Nonso is the closest thing to a folk hero. He does not only make radio listening fun, he pricks the ear of the authorities with the truths they loath to hear. Nonso is probably the lone voice speaking in the Imo wilderness where the detestable state machine has cowed the populace.The news of Nonso’s ‘kidnap’ spread like wild fire, agitating the entire Owerri urban.
Some said it was masked DSS operatives while yet some others thought it was the state government’s fearsome ESN squad. The buzz in town was getting too deafening, forcing the State Police Command to make a statement clarifying the situation. Nonso Nkwa was picked by Force CID, and he had been flown to Abuja by noon, stated the Imo Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO. Imolites were assuaged but questions began to stream in – why would Police Headquarters, Abuja come all the way to Owerri to abduct an unarmed and harmless journalist in this fashion? The Nonso Nkwa they know is not a common criminal.
Why was he abducted instead of being arrested? He is a well known broadcast journalist with known home and official addresses. Why was he not invited by the police, especially from Force Headquarters? Why Abuja Police and not Imo Police Command? Why would the police deploy a jet to pick an unarmed suspect? Who pays for this expensive arrest and to what end? We wager that no complainant other than the State government can afford to hire a jet to abduct and fly an “errant” journalist to Abuja from Owerri.
PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE is what Nonso can be likened to having been under the skin of the Governor Hope Uzodinma administration for a while. Exactly a year ago, Ozisa Fm was temporarily shutdown by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, NBC, for Nonso’s analysis of the heinous killing of youths in Awomanma. The closure was allegedly instigated by the State government which had become uncomfortable with the very popular duo of Ozisa FM and Nonso Nkwa. The Awomanma massacre was reportedly the joint efforts of DSS and Uzodinma’s ESN. But while every witness reported that over a dozen youths killed were wedding guests, state officials said they were IPoB ESN.
But even an armed group need not to be wasted in that manner. That must have been the point of divergence between Nonso and the state. In the endless muck of insecurity and misrule journalists are to see no evil and say no evil. But Nonso is made of a different hue, he is fearless. Over the years, he has grown to become conscience of the people, crusading for enlightened governance and social good.
For that, he’s not the best friend of the government in Imo. He had cried out last year that his life was being threatened by the officials of state. Now he’s been plucked from the street what could be the matter this time?
NEW IGP EGBETOKUN will have a lot to explain to Imo people why Nonso had to be abducted in this cowboy style. The more things change in Nigeria, the more they are unchanged. Reading IGP Kayode Egbetokun’s profile, one would think a new dawn had come for enlightened policing in Nigeria. But here we are, a simple, unarmed citizen going about his lawful duties being bodyjacked. Which Nigerian law allows hooded policemen to arrest citizens in bandits fashion?
Which offence requires that a citizen should be accosted and picked on the highway, put in a plane and flown to another jurisdiction without the notice to his family and lawyers? If the unexpected should happen, for instance, would the police own up and take responsibility? As you read this, 36 hours after, not a word has been heard from the abductors of journalist Nonso.
WHY IS UNRULINESS creeping in and seeming to rule our security and intelligence community in Nigeria? Professionalism seems to be kept in abeyance while officers and men behave in a disgraceful way as we witnessed at the Ikoyi High Court earlier in the week. When did the hood become part of the DSS regulation uniform? And the Police emulating a bad example now trying out the hood treatment on an unarmed journalist. Impunity seems to have taken the place of professionalism.
Politicians and moneyed rogues have suborned the armed forces, intelligence and security agencies, making them lapdog and errands runners. For instance, only a state government can afford this expensive adoption. Not even the police would want to invest so much on logistics to pick up a citizen they could easily invite or manage in the state command. Why then would the force allow itself to be deployed on such an unprofessional manner?
HANDLE WITH CARE, Nonso Nkwa is a journalist doing his legitimate duty. If this is about gagging him and circumscribing his right to free speech and freedom of expression then there’s cause for worry. He is public property. There’s bound to be an upheaval in Imo if this matter is not handled with utmost wisdom. Without prejudice to the Police doing their lawful duties, Nonso is seen as a diligent, honest and law-abiding citizen; a folk hero of a sort. This matter is the Police against the Imo people, not against Nonso.
freenonsonkwanow
Feedback: Email: steve.osuji@gmail.com /28.07.23
