By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
The Department of State Services has released two reporters from Jay 101.9 FM, Jos, who were allegedly wrongfully arrested during President Bola Tinubu’s visit to Plateau State on Saturday for the burial of the mother of the APC national chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwadta Goshwe.
A credible security source told reporters the detained journalists, Ruth Marcus and Keshia Jang, were freed after DSS Director-General Oluwatosin Ajayi learned of their arrest and ordered their immediate release.
The source said the DG personally instructed the Service to contact the national president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Comrade Alhassan Yahaya.
“The Director assured the NUJ President that the new DSS leadership treasures the importance of a free press in a democracy, and has ordered a thorough investigation into the matter. He further assured the NUJ President that any officer found culpable will be appropriately sanctioned.
“The new DG is correcting the wrongs he inherited. One of them is overzealousness. This is why the new DG has not failed to admit so whenever the Service makes mistakes. We are witnesses to several instances when the Service apologised and even compensated victims of wrongful arrests.
“The DG is an absolute lover of human rights and press freedom. You may recall that sometime ago, the DSS DG apologised to the management of TVC over the alleged harassment and intimidation of a reporter,” added the source as reported by Vanguard on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the management of the station confirmed their release in a statement late Saturday.
“Upon confirming that the DSS was holding them, frantic efforts were made to secure their release. Although our efforts were initially rebuffed, they were eventually released,” the management said in the statement signed by its Managing Director, Comrade Clinton Garuba.
Garuba, who strongly condemned the arrest of the journalists, described it as illegal, undemocratic, and a suppression of press freedom.
“This event has once again prompted us to draw attention to the disturbing issues of press freedom violations, human rights abuses, and the erosion of the rule of law by security agencies,” Garuba said.
The Jay FM management claimed their staff were professionals and were only carrying out their duties by doing what well-trained journalists would do, and were ethically mandated to carry out their duties and document incidents for public record and accountability.
It called on the DSS to respect press freedom and act within the law, stressing that the press is not an enemy of the state.
“We remind the agency that this nation is under civilian rule, not military dictatorship. Security agencies exist to protect citizens, not to intimidate or abduct them.
“To those who wield power, we remind you that the freedom of the press is the lifeblood of democracy. When journalists are silenced, democracy dies in darkness,” the statement added.
The Punch