Release Imprisoned Journalists, Reporters Tell Obasanjo's Wife

In a toughly worded statement, Reporters Without Borders today criticized Nigerian First Lady Stella Obasanjo and her counterpart from Kenya for their role in jailing two journalists who wrote critically of them after a May 2 incident. The jailings is highly unusual because although it is not reliable insofar as accuracy, the Nigerian press is lively and uncontrolled except by its owners.

Here is the story from Money.net:

Nigeria: Media Body Tells First Ladies to Apologize

Washington DC, May 04, 2005
(Catholic Information Service for Africa/
All Africa Global Media via COMTEX)

Reporters Without Borders has said it was "astounded" by the abuse of authority displayed by the wives of Presidents Mwai Kibaki (Kenya) and Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria) in assailing and imprisoning journalists in separate incidents on May 2 in response to critical media reports.

"We therefore call on Lucy Kibaki to apologize to the cameraman she hit and we call on Stella Obasanjo to have the Midwest Herald's publisher released from prison immediately, as such meddling harms the image of their countries," Reporters Without Borders said.

Orobosa Omo-Ojo, publisher of the Midwest Herald, was arrested on Stella Obasanjo's orders by security forces, following a recent article about her headlined "Greedy Stella."

In Nairobi, at around midnight on May 2, Lucy Kibaki, with six bodyguards, invaded and spent five hours at night at the Nation Centre, premises the Nation Media Group - Kenya's largest media group.

She slapped a Kenya Television Network cameraman Clifford Derrick, besides confiscating journalists' cameras and notebooks.

On April 29, she had tried to stop a farewell party at the residence of Makhtar Diop, the World Bank's Kenya representative, because it was noisy.

It is unknown what became of the reporter and cameraman after this story was published last Wednesday.