Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade says the continuous detention of Agba Jalingo, a journalist, is due to his involvement in “Revolution Now Protest”.
Ayade said this yesterday at State House, Abuja, while addressing journalists after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Jalingo, the publisher of Cross River Watch, who is facing treason charges, was arrested in August last year over a report alleging that Ayade diverted N500m belonging to the state.
Ayade said Jalingo was no longer a journalist, but chairman of the African Action Congress, a party founded by the publisher of SaharaReporter, Omoyele Sowore.
The governor said: “Once he started the campaign to overthrow the government of President Buhari, he ceased to be seen from the point of journalist because he has become the state chairman of a party.
“In court, it is Federal Government versus Agba Jalingo, not Cross River State. The same Agba Jalingo who is in jail, I send him money…
“But when I don’t get a thing right you go to the social media and write something as careless as Governor Ayade has taken N500M to Russia. You impugned my father’s name, my character, my family name, for just a personal request that I’ve not met, out of many that I have met. Please for once, put yourselves in my shoes. All I simply did was to stay out of the issue.
“He’s in court for treason. A state doesn’t have power to try anyone for treason. It’s not me.”
He said Buhari would be visiting his state to flag off a new programme called G-money, which is an empowerment initiative to create jobs for 2,000 women and young people through agriculture.