The New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) in Gombe State has condemned the arrest and detention of radio journalist, Yakubu Halliru and one of its stalwarts, Malam Ahmed Mandi.
The party said Halliru, a local radio presenter with Radio Nigeria Jewel FM Gombe and Mandi, a stalwart of the NNPP in the state, were allegedly arrested on the orders of the state government over a political programme aired on the radio station and have been held for 24 hours.
Mandi had while promoting the governorship candidate of his party, Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, alleged that the Gombe Government House under construction gulped over N4 billion.
The special adviser to Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya on information management and strategy, Ahmed Shuaibu Gara, however, denied the allegation, saying only the sum of N1.6bn was expended in the last four years in the maintenance of all public buildings in the state.
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In a statement issued on Saturday by the state publicity secretary of the party, Muhammad Kabir Makko, the NNPP described the arrest and subsequent detention of Halliru and Mandi, as an attempt to gag the press, “which is condemnable and totally unacceptable.”
“Yakubu Halliru simply did his job as a journalist by anchoring a programme where a guest made presentations based on facts available to him (guest) at the time of the said programme,” Makko said.
