October 3, 2014- Trade Union Congress (TUC) has condemned arrest and prosecution of Mr. Amaechi Anakwue, a reporter with African Independent Television (AIT) for describing Assistant Inspector General of Police(AIG) Joseph Mbu, a controversial figure in one of his reports.
In a statement signed by President and Secretary of TUC, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama and Musa Lawal, the union said it is appalled by what it described as arbitrary arrest and detention of the reporter for allegedly describing him as a controversial CP in one of his presentations.
“What a flagrant abuse of power! What a dictatorial arrest! What impunity! Since when does being a police officer confer on Mbu the right to annihilate anyone that opposes him? Nigerians have lost count of how many times the likes of General Muhammadu Buhari, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Reverend Chris Okotie and a host others have been described as controversial, yet none of them ever invoked fire and brimstone to consume any journalist.
“Even President Goodluck Jonathan has severally been addressed in uncomplimentary terms but gracefully took it all in his strides. Mbu should be called to order. He should be made to understand that Nigeria is a free and democratic country, and her citizens are entitled to live and express themselves freely in an atmosphere devoid of oppression and unjustifiable arrests”, TUC said.
The union called on the police authorities to caution Mbu and like-minded officers that are still in its employ and “whose stock-in-trade appears to be arbitrary intimidation and arrest of innocent Nigerians”.
TUC demanded that the police duly compensate Anakwue for the unlawful arrest and detention.TUC also called on the police authority to discipline Mbu to forestall a repeat of what TUC called “his irresponsible behaviour”.
