Journalist Alleges Threat to Life

The South-South Bureau Chief of Champion Newspapers, Mr. Tony Ita Etim, has written a protest letter to the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Command, Mr. Bala Hassan, alleging threat to his life by some suspected Islamic extremists.

In the letter dated August 12, 2009 to the police chief, the journalist said, ''i write to intimate you that I have been receiving several telephone calls from a section of the society who claimed to be Moslems threatening to beat me or kill me''.

According to him, ''these calls came in Friday July 31, 2009. The callers are claiming that they are reacting to an article titled DRUMS OF WAR which was published in my column called AKPANIKO. Though most of the callers have hidden their numbers, some callers’ numbers were opened and these numbers are 08039266105, 08036388469 and 07030803077' '.

''On Tuesday, August 11, 2009''; he went on, ''a new dimension was added when a caller with number 084764210 threatened to send assassins after me. He alleged that in 2003 at the New Covenant Anglican Church, Amadi Flat during the child dedication of a staff of AGIP, one Engineer Nwabueze I took his pictures and publish same without his permission; which is a lie''.

''I know Nwabueze and was invited for the said ceremony. I did not attend his child dedication because I was out of Port Harcourt. The first time I went to that Church was when then Rivers State Information Commissioner now Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Mr. Magnus Abe, dedicated his son, Peter. I did not take any picture. My second visit to the church was in 2008 when the Chairman of the Federated Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Mr. Lawson Heyford held a thanksgiving service for his wife, Bright, who survived a cancer operation. Also I did not take pictures because I didn’t own a camera as at that time'', he said in the letter.

Continuing, he added, ''i would appeal to you to use your good office to investigate these callers, their motives as well as arrest and prosecute them. I am a law abiding citizen of this country and if in the course of my duty as a reporter anybody is aggrieved with my opinion, such persons have the right to go to court and seek legal redress than resort to threat of violence and assassinations.

''Sir, I would also ask for police protection as I have been observing strange faces trailing me and coming to my office under the guise of doing one business or the other and at the end they end up not doing anything rather than waiting and asking for names of my colleagues in a bid to identify who among them is Tony Ita Etim.

''Sir, I count on your assistance as my life is in danger.''

In the mean time, Journalists for Niger Delta (JODEL), a media group concerned with the affairs of Nigeria's oil and gas region has warned that any harm to the journalist could trigger a religious conflict that will further worsen the situation in the Niger Delta.

An official of the media group, Mr. Daniel Abia, told our correspondent on telephone on Saturday that they are confident that Mr. Hassan, the police boss, will not allow the threat to the life of the journalist, to degerate.

''While we are watching the situation, JODEL will like to say at this point that we have confidence in the competence of the commissioner of police to handle the matter'', Mr. Abia said.