Journalists raise alarm over threats from former lawmaker
- The publisher of a news website has raised an alarm over threats to his life and those of his colleagues
- Oke Epia, publisher of OrderPaper Nigeria, accused a former member of the House of Representatives, Tony Nwulu, of trying to harm them
- Nwulu, 40, represented Oshodi-Isolo II constituency in Lagos state in the 8th National Assembly
The publisher of a news website, OrderPaper Nigeria, Oke Epia, has raised an alarm over threats to his life and those of his colleagues allegedly issued serially by a former member of the House of Representatives, Tony Nwulu.
Nwulu, 40, represented Oshodi-Isolo II constituency, Lagos in the 8th Assembly and came into prominence when he sponsored the not-too-young-to-run bill that was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari last year.
Epia in a statement released to the media said himself and other journalists in the media organization have received threat calls directly from Nwulu and strange calls and text messages from persons some of whom refused to identify themselves.
He said the strange encounters with the politician started on Sunday, July 21, when the former lawmaker posted unwarranted, grave and unsubstantiated allegations of extortion and blackmail against the organization on social media over a publication he disagreed with.
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According to him, the publication contained an objective assessment of his records in parliament.
Epia said a letter was written to the politician asking for evidence to back up the claims in his posts which “are wild, tactless, libelous and absolutely unbecoming of someone who has held such high office as a federal legislator.”
But in a reaction, he said: “Mr. Nwulu went on a binge of further verbal attacks and this time was calling my colleagues and issuing threats with a promise to hunt us down at all costs.
“Given the wave of attacks against journalists in recent times, we have decided to bring this matter to the public domain and let the world know that should anything untoward happen to me or any of our colleagues or the media establishment itself, Mr. Nwulu should be held responsible.
“According to the Press Attack Tracker which monitors attacks against journalists in the country, at least 36 Nigerian journalists were attacked between January and July this year.
“So when we now have someone saying that he will hunt us down, we need to make the world aware even though we have initiated appropriated steps to seek legal protection and redress both for ourselves and the reputation of our organization.
“And for the records, we stand by our story and insist that records available since the publication have further corroborated our reportage.”
Efforts to reach Hon Nwulu to hear his own side of the story proved abortive as at the time of this report.
But, the ex-lawmaker had accused Epia of blackmailing him, saying he had already informed the police.
He told The Cable that OrderPaper accused him of spending millions of naira meant for a constituency project but he asked them to provide evidence to back up their accusation but they could not.
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Meanwhile, Senator Ademola Adeleke has described the Supreme Court judgement exonerating and clearing him of all charges of certificate forgery “as a final vindication from months of tortuous persecution, blackmail and smear campaigns.”
A statement made available by the spokesman of Adeleke Campaign Organisation, on Thursday, July 25, by Mr Rasheed Olawale indicated that “Adeleke has been receiving several messages of felicitations from well wishers from within and outside Osun state.”
The apex court had dismissed the appeal filed by the appellants against the Court of Appeal judgement that ruled in Adeleke's favour establishing the fact that he did not forge any certificate nor did he make any false declarations.
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