Reps to probe arrest of Elombah brothers

The house of representatives on Tuesday commenced investigation into the detention of bloggers of elombah.com, an online platform.

Daniel and Timothy Elombah, publisher and editor of the platform, along with six other males were arrested from their Anambra residence on January 1.

They werfe reportedly arrested on the orders of Ibrahim Idris, inspector general of police (IGP).

The decision to investigate the matter arose after a petition written by Online Publishers Association of Nigeria of Nigeria (OPAN) was presented by Chris Azubogu, a member of the house.

Azubogu told the green chamber that for the past 23 days, the police kept Tim Elombah and Daniel Elombah under “unlawful” detention despite the expiration of the detention order.

“It is very instructive that the police took Tim to Mpape area court requesting to be granted 14 days to conclude their investigations,” he said.

“On looking at the facts, the court rejected the 14 days but graciously granted police seven days.

“Unfortunately, after 22 days, Tim Elombah is still in detention and his elder brother, who is the publisher of Elombah.com is on police administrative bail but cannot travel back to London where he resides with his family as the police insisted that he should not travel out of Abuja.”

Speaking with reporters earlier in the month, the IGP said the journalists were arrested because they “committed an offence”.

He, however, did not state the exact offence committed by the Elombah brothers.

“Anyway I don’t need to send anybody but whenever you commit an offence it is our duty to ensure that we respond,” he had said.