Pandemonium as security agents clamp down on newspaper vendors

There was pandemonium in Owerri, Imo State capital, on Monday morning as security men arrested four vendors and sales representatives at Rotobi area of the state capital.

The raid followed a similar arrest of New Telegraph sales representative, Chuks Ugwuibe.

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Ugwuibe was arrested along Banana Junction in Orlu after he had gone to reconcile his sales with the vendors.

He was said to have been whisked away last week alongside some other vendors and has been held incommunicado since then.

Surprisingly, however, some security agents were said to have gone to Rotobi, taking Ugwuibe with them, ransacked the whole area and arrested two sales representatives and two vendors.

The situation was said to have sent jitters down the spine of newspaper distributors in Owerri, who quickly closed shops and ran away.

A vendor, who spoke to our correspondent, anonymously, said the men did not disclose their identities.

Speaking hysterically, she said, “They first came on Saturday with the New Telegraph sales representatives arrested last week.

“This morning, again they came, ransacked the whole building and arrested two sales representatives and two vendors.

“They were looking for papers they said carried bad news about the government. They were just arresting everybody arbitrarily. All of us are afraid.”

The police operatives were said to swooped on the vendors on Monday morning at their base located at Number 5 Rotibi Street, Douglas Road, Owerri, as the circulation of the day’s newspapers was on going.

Other vendors and distribution agents who ran away, told journalists that the gun wielding police operatives accused them of circulating Newspaper publications that had stories on the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra and that were “anti-state.”

One of the vendors who escaped the arrest said, “As we were circulating our newspapers for the Monday edition, policemen putting on jackets that had IRT inscription swooped on us and started arresting us.

“They took away were the ones that had Newspapers that had IPOB stories and the ones they said were against the government.”

Some of the vendors and distribution agents the IGP’s team arrested were Nnamso Okoro, Nelson Enyiama, Blessing Isinwa, Onyebuchi Iwundu and Michael.

The arrest of the newspaper vendors and distribution agents elicited reactions as residents of the state asked the government to stop clamping down on the press.

The arrest also affected Newspaper circulation in the state on Monday as the other vendors and distribution agents fled over fear of being arrested.

At the Government House Roundabout in Owerri, a popular place people gather to read newspapers and analyse issues, our correspondent saw people fuming and calling on the government to stop gagging the press.

One of them said, “Do they think that arresting vendors and distribution agents and journalists will stop us from knowing the truth.

“They don’t know journalists. The more you arrest them, the more they write. Journalists are very strong people. Journalists are stubborn. They are very courageous. Journalists are trained to expose the evils in the society. Journalists are always on the side of the people.”

Another person said, “This administration is very clueless. Just look at the insecurity bedeviling our country and the only strength they have is to arrest newspaper vendors and distribution agents, who are doing their lawful businesses.

“Why is it that this administration hates press freedom? Why is it that this administration does not like the truth?

“Insurgents have taken over LGAs in Zamfara, Niger and Nasarawa states and they are about entering Abuja and the only response this Government has is to arrest vendors and distribution agents.

“Very soon they will start arresting journalists but that will not solve the problem. Government should be proactive not this petty approach.

The state Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro, said that the operatives were not from his command.