A legal practitioner, Mr. Ekemini Udim, has warned Nigeria Police Force and sister security agencies against jumping at every request to arrest and detain an online publisher.
Udim spoke this at a seminar organised by the Conference of Online Publishers in Akwa Ibom (COOPA) held in Eden Hotel, Eket, Akwa Ibom State on Saturday.
‘‘Petitions should be carefully scrutinised in-house with media experts in the police and possibly with police lawyers so as to arrive at informed decisions on whether to publication complained of is defamatory at all,’’ he said.
Speaking on Legal Burden of Online Publishing and the Increasing Scourge of Harassment Faced by Bloggers & Social Media Influencers, he noted that online publishers, bloggers and social media influencers have become endangered species.
‘‘While we celebrate the beauty of online publishing, one cannot fail to mention the fact that in recent time, online publishers, bloggers and social media influencers have become endangered species. They have been haunted across the globe. In Nigeria, the situation is not better.
‘‘Many online publishers, bloggers and social media influencers have been arrested by the police and sister security agencies and detained for days un-end at the behest of some powerful members of society who walk the earth as the untouchables.
‘‘Today we have influential men and women in the Nigerian society who strongly believe that they are above criticism. That their activities should never be scrutinized by any journalist or any person born of a woman. Here lies the cross of the online publisher, blogger and influencer.
‘‘He is constantly on the radar of the security agencies and closely monitored. In most instances, the online journalist is not sure of the story that will annoy the political actor and activate his arrest and detention. In the course of my practice law, I have had occasion to defend journalists dragged to court by the police at the behest or instigation of the high and mighty.
‘‘The reality today is that there is indeed an existential threat to the online journalism profession. This is a serious matter for which society must address. If I am to itemise the names of online media practitioners that have been arrested, locked up and charged to court after much pressure, we certainly will not leave here today.
‘‘But the records are there for all to see and feel the impact of the increasing scourge of harassment faced by online publishers, bloggers & social media influencers. Some have even lost their lives in the course of duty,’’ the legal practitioner pointed out.
The outgone COOPA Chancellor, Ifreke Nsewo stressed the need for online to be ethical in the performance of their duty.
‘‘The need to be ethical in our jobs cannot be overemphasized because many bloggers and social media influencers are being targeted for harassment, intimidation and incarceration.
‘‘In fact, statistics now show that bloggers are now more endangered than core professional journalists. These happen because we have left loopholes in our publications which those who are affected by our publications have exploited to hound us. So, we must learn the ethics. We must be wise because if birds have learnt to fly without perching, hunters should also learn to shoot without missing,’’ Nsewo stated.
According to him, ‘‘So, we have brought Ekemini Udim to speak to us in the aspect of legal implications of this our job. You remember sometime last year, I was hounded and targeted for arrest and possible incarceration for publishing a document I sourced from the courts. So, let Barr. Udim tell us if I ran foul of the law by publishing what was merely a public document.’’
