…Alleges “frame-up, defamed.”
by Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
Investigative journalist, Idibia Gabriel, has narrated how he was picked up by police officers in Kaduna in the morning hours over alleged ‘trespass and sale of hard drugs’ complaint lodged by a hotel owner, known as Victor Balogun.
Gabriel said the incident occurred around 10am on Wednesday, a few meters from his residence, in Ungwan Boro, Kaduna South, when on his way to office.
According to him, two men claiming to be Police Officers, one in uniform (and another in plain clothes), identified himself as CID, arrived in a private jeep driven by Victor Balogun, owner of De Jay’s Guest-Inn Hotel in U/Boro.
“Before the two police officers bailed out of the moving car, I watched Victor Balogun pointing fingers at me as the car stopped,” Gabriel stated.
He said the plain-clothed officer told him the DPO at Sabon Tasha Police Station wanted to see him but did not present an ID card to him. When Gabriel asked for the reason, he was told a report had been lodged against him by Mr. Balogun.
According to the journalist, the hotel owner alleged that he entered the hotel premises, despite a previous warning not to, and further claimed that Gabriel was seen in the hotel with a man carrying a bag and, that, he sold marijuana, “Igboo” and other contraband drugs. Mr. Balogun also alleged he had witness and video evidence.
Gabriel said he was neither shown the video nor the Balogun witness at the station. He argued that a hotel is a public place and that anyone has the right to enter.
“Every comment made by the Officer was tilting towards justifying my wrong doing, for entering the hotel, so as to remand me in police cell on allegations of ‘trespassing, sales, and being in imposition of contraband drugs,’” he alleged.
Gabriel said he immediately notified Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Kaduna State Council, and the Chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel.
The situation changed when human rights activist, Comrade Daniel Ejembi, walked into the interrogation room. Ejembi challenged the basis of the arrest, arguing that preventing a journalist from entering a hotel without a court order was suspicious and could suggest an attempt to cover up crimes.
Following the intervention, the complainant was persuaded to withdraw the case at the Police Station, though he insisted on Kaduna Journalist Narrates Ordeal After Police Pick-Up Over ‘Hotel Trespass’ Allegation in court. Gabriel alleged that Balogun later realized his video evidence did not support the claims.
The journalist said the dispute stems from a report he published on a recent security raid at the hotel by a task force, during which suspected drug dealers and “Yahoo boys” were arrested.
He added that Balogun had earlier threatened him on phone over the report, and that the matter is pending before a Customary Court in Sabon Tasha where the hotel owner is standing trial for alleged criminal intimidation.
Gabriel said he decided to make the incident public to highlight what he described as “unjust detentions” suffered by many Nigerians.
“I therefore wish to use this opportunity to call on journalists’ protection bodies, civil society organizations and relevant authorities to intervene and stop a hotelier with big-size-pocket from trailing me over my news reports on raid in his hotel, in the name of ‘entering his hotel premises,’” he said.