The rights group, Amnesty International, and other groups have called on Nigeria’s secret police, the SSS, to release a sports journalist, Kufre Carter
He was arrested on April 27 by the SSS in Uyo and charged with defamation for “castigating” the Commissioner for Health in the state, Dominic Ukpong, over his handling of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.Amnesty International said on May 23 on Twitter that Mr Carter is “unlawfully” detained on the order of the Akwa Ibom government.
“It is condemnable, totally unaccepted,” the Director of IPC, Lanre Arogundade said of the detention of Mr Carter, in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Monday. SERAP in a statement posted on Twitter, said, “We’re calling on President Buhari to urgently instruct the State Security Service to immediately and unconditionally release sports journalist Kufre Carter detained in the facility of SSS”.
Apart from the N3 million, the journalist was required to provide a surety who must be either a permanent secretary with the Akwa Ibom government or a civil servant of grade level 17, plus a letter from his village head attesting to his identity. The court also said he should provide a prominent indigene or a businessman within the jurisdiction of the court as a surety.
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