Nigeria’s Law teacher and rights advocate, Prof Chidi Anselm Odinkalu has condemned the three-month detention of some bloggers at the behest of GTbank.
The bloggers were said to have published stories that were considered unfavourable by the bank.
Odinkalu, a former chairman of Nigeria’s Human Rights Commission, in a number of Tweets said on Saturday: “Since Sep 19 2024, @gtbank has procured @policeNG to detain some bloggers, including one Precious Eze & Olawale Olurotimi on charges of #Cyberbullying & “conspiracy” in connection with stories published on their platforms. GtBank has not seriously addressed the stories.
“These #Bloggers have now been detained for 3 months, more than double the duration of pre-trial custody allowed by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act. On 23 Oct, @gtbank showcased a team of 10 lawyers, including 3 SANs whom it has retained to oppress these poor bloggers.
“The case began 19 Sept with a petition written by lawyers to @gtbank which made ostentatious claims of #cyberbullying & criminal extortion &c against these bloggers wth hardly any supporting material. The complaint cld not even mention how much they supposedly sought to extort!
“Within 4 days, the @PoliceNG had finished investigation. The report of the investigation team led by Michael Abu, a Chief Superintendent of Police, #CSP, said explicitly that Precious Eze & Olawale Olurotimi shd be “used as scapegoat.”
“There’s only 1 way to read these facts: @gtbank is using its considerable financial muscle to oppress & persecute poor bloggers so as to achieve a #ChillingEffect on civics. #GTBank forgets that we are also customers. If GTbank fails to stop this, citizens shd stop banking wth it.”