Amnesty International Nigeria and International Press Centre (IPC) have condemned the harassment and detention of Buhari Abba Rano, Online Editor at Kano Times, and freelance journalist Isma’il Auwal by Kano police.

IPC called on the police to stop being used to target journalists and to end all forms of intimidation and harassment against the two reporters.

Reports published by platforms such as Kano Times, WikkiTimes and Premium Times, some of which can be found here, here, here, here and here, suggest that the two journalists were detained for hours on Tuesday “on the orders of Ibrahim Waiya, the Commissioner of Information”.

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“Speaking with Melody Akinjiyan, the Press Freedom Officer of IPC, Buhari Rano confirmed that he was invited by the Kano State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (CIID) of the Kano Police Command, where he was detained for three (3) hours and his phone seized,” reads a statement issued by the IPC on Wednesday.

IPC said Rano was asked to return to the station on Wednesday, and he was quoted thus: “This intimidation my colleague and I are going through is in connection to an opinion article published by Kano Times, which I did not author.”

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Amnesty International, a human rights organisation, equally condemned the targeted attack on these journalists in a statement published on its Facebook page on Tuesday.

“All these bizarre acts of intimidation are connected to an opinion article published by Kano Times. Expressing a critical opinion on a matter of public interest can never be a crime,” Amnesty stated.

“The plan to charge both journalists with defamation is unacceptable and shows utter disregard for freedom of expression and unlawful intolerance of dissenting voices.”