The Police on Tuesday arrested four journalists, including members of the Warri Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Delta State.
They are Matthew Omonigho of the DAILY POST, Edeki Egafe of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Francis Sadhere of Business Day and Christopher Odomhe, a freelance journalist.
The reason for their arrest is not known yet.
Police operatives stormed the Press Centre of the Warri NUJ along Gbiaye Street in Warri at about 3:45 pm, picked and detained Omonigho for undisclosed reasons.
Swiftly, the NUJ leadership dispatched Edeki, Sadhere and Christopher to visit the Police Area Command in Warri to ascertain why Omonigho was arrested.
On arrival, officers detained the three journalists seeking information on their colleague.
Mobile phones of all four were also confiscated by the operatives.
In spite these, the detectives from the Force Headquarters declined to give reasons for the illegal detention.
NUJ Chairman in Delta, Comrade Michael Ikeogwu, said that the officers stormed the Press Centre and saw our correspondent.
“They were looking for another reporter. They collected Omonigho’s phone, saw the person’s number and arrested him.
“When some journalists went to the command, the officers, again, checked their phones, saw the person’s number and arrested them.”
Ikeogwu condemned the arbitrary arrest, phone seizure and confinement without a warrant.
He called on Nigerians to pay attention to the impunity going on in the country, adding that the NUJ will provide an update on the matter.
