Published 14th Feb, 2023

By Sodeeq Atanda

Citizen Agba Jalingo, the publisher of CrossRiverWatch, based in Cross River State, has called on the Nigeria Police Force to stop harassing and intimidating him with spurious criminal charges.

The investigative journalist maintained that he had always been vindicated despite serial allegations and litigations in the course of doing his work.

“For the past 25 years, I’ve been unfairly moving from one court to another in Nigeria in criminal trials for crimes I never committed. Not once have I been convicted of any crime and not once have I run away from my trial. I doubt if I even have any record of missing a court date even when I had to travel for hundreds of miles to get to court,” Jalingo said.

He said his latest travail in the hands of the police is unconnected with an exposé against Elizabeth Alami Ayade, sister-in-law to Ben Ayade, the Governor of Cross River State.

“The police have again charged me under the cybercrime act because I wrote that someone wrote the law school exams for the wife of Governor Ayade’s younger brother. I was supposed to be arraigned today 14 February at the Federal High Court 4 in Abuja,” said Jalingo.

“My lawyers pleaded improper service of the charge on me by the police and that stalled my arraignment today and the court adjourned till March 27, 2022, to allow proper service by my lawyers and my arraignment on the adjourned date.

“I am ready to stand trial and defend myself as always. But, in what appears like desperation to satisfy their pay masters, the police have vowed to come for me. They have already invited my brother, Utsu Atsu, who stood surety for me at the police station with intention to detain him.

“They have also vowed to disregard the court and come back to arrest me from my home and lock me up till next court date.

“I am aware that the Ayades are bent on making sure I am removed from circulation before the forthcoming elections for reasons best known to them. They are using every foul means, money and the police in particular to achieve this goal.

“For me, I have never run away from law enforcement agents because I am not a criminal and it won’t be different this time. I am a law-abiding citizen and I expect the police to respect the court and leave me and my brother, Utsu Atsu, alone until March 27, when I shall be in court as the court pleases.”

CrossRiverWatch published a report revealing that the governor’s sister-in-law was responsible for the publisher’s arrest and police intimidation.

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