Police accuse journalist of defamation over report on Tony Nwulu

The police have accused Oke Epia, publisher of OrderPaper Nigeria, of defamation.

The national assembly division of the force had invited him for questioning over an investigative report on Tony Nwulu, a former member of the house of representatives from Imo state.

The report,which OrderPaper described as an “objective assessment” of  Nwulu’s records at the national assembly, had infuriated the ex-lawmaker who petitioned the police.

The police grilled Epia for three hours on Tuesday and he was later released on bail. Epia told TheCable he was asked to return to the division on a later date.

Ifeanyi Ugwu-Anichi, Epia’s counsel, told TheCable that the police are accusing the journalist of defamation of character.

The journalist recently raised an alarm on alleged threat to his life by the former lawmaker.

Epia had said staff at OrderPaper Nigeria received threatening calls from Nwulu and “strange persons” some of whom refused to identify themselves.

Nwulu, however, denied the allegations in a telephone interview with TheCable.

He accused Epia of blackmailing him and alleged that the medium failed to provide evidence that he spent money meant for a constituency project.

The Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) has asked the police to drop the charges against Epia.

The organisation tweeted this on Tuesday evening.

#Nigeria: Oke Epia, editor in chief of @OrderPaper, was today (July 30) charged with criminal defamation after a complaint by politician @tonynwulu.

Epia is to report again to police on August 5.

Join @pressfreedom to call for the charge to be dropped. #JournalismIsNotACrime https://t.co/eWaUzFcnAX

— CPJ Africa (@CPJAfrica) July 30, 2019

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