Nigerian Police in Katsina on Sunday released a northern Nigeria based journalist, Danjuma Katsina, arrested Saturday night over a post on a Facebook page he runs — Katsina City News.
The police did not issue a statement on the journalist’s arrest. But a top ranking police official told an official of the Nigerian Guild Of Editors, official, NGE that Danjuma was arrested following a petition by a member of Katsina State House of Assembly.
According to the police, the journalist was picked up over complaints by a lawmaker alleging an injurious publication.
Despite the pressure on the police by the official, the journalist was kept in detention overnight.
The persistent NGE pressure yielded some fruits as Danjuma regained his freedom from police cell on Sunday Morning.
He is expected to report to the police on Monday along with the lawmaker, NGE official who mounted pressure for the journalist’s release disclosed.
The latest move by the NGE appears to be an indication of a fresh wave of activism by the officials in the face of growing dangers faced by journalists in northern Nigeria and the country as a whole.
Last week, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) headquarters issued a warning to Governor Naisr El-Rufai of Kaduna state, also in northern Nigeria, for his intolerance and jailing of journalists over stories, which the governor feels uncomfortable about.
The press freedom index for Nigeria, as measured by the committee to protect journalists (CPJ), dropped six places in the last two years, over growing intolerance of journalists by northern Nigeria governors, especially Kaduna state, where five people, including journalists have been picked and remanded in custody by government and security agencies.
