Posted by By Ise-Oluwa Ige on
ABUJA - THE Federal Government yesterday charged two journalists, Gbenga Aruleba and Rotimi Durojaiye along with.....
ABUJA - THE Federal Government yesterday charged two journalists, Gbenga Aruleba and Rotimi Durojaiye along with their media organisations - DAAR Communications Ltd and Daily Independent Newspapers, respectively with sedition at a Federal High Court, Abuja. Sedition is an illegal action of inciting resistance to lawful authority and tending to cause disruption or overthrow of the government.
Aruleba is a senior staff of DAAR Communications, owners of AIT and Ray Power and Durojaiye is Aviation correspondent of Independent Newspapers.
The accused persons are currently in the custody of the SSS for the purpose of bringing them to court for arraignment.
The criminal information made against them was filed yesterday at the Registry of the Federal High Court, Abuja at about 11.00 a.m. by a combined team of lawyers from the offices of the SSS and the Director of Public Prosecution for the Federation.
Director of Public Prosecution, Mr. Salihu Aliyu was initially reluctant to divulge his mission in court to jourlanists.
Vanguard discovered that a six-count criminal charge of sedition filed against the accused persons by the Federal Government and he was around to prosecute the case.
It was also gathered that all the accused persons were scheduled to be arraigned yesterday before the high court presided over by Justice Stephen Adah but this was rescheduled.
But the Director of Public Prosecution for the Federation, Mr. Salihu Aliyu later said copies of the charge would be made available to newsmen this morning after all the accused persons would have been arraigned.
Mr.Aruleba was arrested by men of the SSS less than two weeks ago on the strength of a court warrant.
His offence was that he referred to a newly acquired jet of President Olusegun Obasanjo as a fairly-used one.
During interrogation, Aruleba had allegedly said that his comment stemmed from a news report authored by Rotimi Durojaiye of the Daily Independent.
He was eventually granted a conditional release by the SSS which threatened to charge him to court if there was a compelling reason for that.
But after the SSS decided to charge Aruleba to court, the author of the news report which described the presidential jet as tokunbo, Mr. Rotimi Durojaiye was arrested while criminal charges were filed against the two journalists and their employers.