Judge detains seven journalists for ‘invasion of court’

An Ogun State High Court judge in Ota Division, Justice N. I. Agbelu, yesterday ordered the arrest and detention of seven journalists who planned to cover the trial of a murder suspect, Mutairu Owoeye. 

Agbelu said the court was not a public place. “I am a judge; I have an unlimited jurisdiction in the state. I can even say somebody should be arrested without question,” the judge was quoted as saying.
The journalists, who were apprehended by policemen on the premises of Ota High Court 1 in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, were held in detention for over three hours. They were Daud Olatunji (Vanguard), Samuel Awoyinfa (The Punch), Ernest Nwokolo (The Nation), Abiodun Taiwo (Daily Times), Suleiman Fasasi (Nigerian Pilot), Wale Adelaja (TVC) and Johnson Akinpelu (Alaroye).
The journalists had arrived the court about 11:44am to make inquiry in respect of two matters – cases involving victims of Pakoto demolition and murder in Oke-Ore community, which were believed to have been listed for hearing yesterday at the court. It was gathered that the journalists, who arrived in two vehicles, pulled up quietly and had hardly alighted when a policeman accosted them and demanded their identification. When they said they were journalists, the policeman reportedly returned to his duty post.
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