A magistrate of an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, A.A. Oshoniyi, yesterday ordered for the immediate arrest and detention of journalists covering a coroner’s inquest into proceedings which was later adjourned till April 25, 2012.
Trouble began when a female prosecutor/social worker who was in mufti and identified herself as Rose raised her voice and asked journalists who were gathered at the corridor to vacate the premises.
But while trying to explain themselves, and asking the prosecutor to be civil in her approach, Magistrate Oshoniyi came down from her seat and ordered the immediate arrest of the journalists.
“Do you know where you are at all? Arrest them all. Go and lock up all of them,” the magistrate snapped.
Immediately after the she gave the order, a female police officer, Mariam Joseph, swooped on Wale Busari, a judicial correspondent with Silverbird Television, grabbed his cloth and was dragging him away.
His resistance from arrest led other judicial staff in the area to clamp down on other journalists, who included: Akinwale Akintunde of Thisday, Shola Shoyele, Channels Television; Gbenga Shoyele, Nigerian Compass; Wahab Abdulahi, Vanguard; and Paul Dada, LEADERSHIP newspapers.
The Channel television camera man, who was also covering the unfolding drama got his camera seized.
One of the police officers, Olakekan Ajayi, dealt Wahab Abdullah of Vanguard newspaper with a blow and that emboldened other officers who wasted no time to assault other journalists who were later clamped into a 14-seater police bus marked Lagos XJ 812 Epe and driven to Area F police command.
At the station, the officers alleged that the harmless journalists rough handled them and they in turn vowed to deal with the journalist mercilessly. But? two lawyers: Mr. Dele Adesina (SAN) and Mr. Sebastine Hon (SAN) later intervened just as the Area Commander? sought amicable settlement of the matter.
The journalists were later released on the instruction of the Court Registrar, Mr Ganiu Safari, following further intervention of the Chairman and Secretary of the Ikeja Branch of the Nigeria Bar Association, Mr. Adegbamigbe Omole.