The Police in Benue State have taken hostage an entire family, including a one-year old baby, in an effort to compel the baby’s journalist-father to turn himself over to them for a story published by his newspaper.
The baby is Wuese-ter Ibya, who was seized along with its mother, Faith Ibya, as well as Grace Ibya.
Mrs. Faith Ibya is the wife of Henry Ibya, the Benue State Correspondent of Premier Newspaper, and Grace is his sister.
In a statement, the management of Roobbs Communications Network Limited, which publishes The Premier Newspaper, said that the family was forcibly taken as hostages in order to force Mr. Ibya to report himself to the police.
“We are reliably informed that the police authorities in Benue State are acting under the instruction of the governor who was visibly angered by the uncomplimentary story about his wife which bordered on extortion of money from Benue women,” the statement said, “under the guise of improving the lot of Benue women in the celebration of the fifth edition of Benue Women, where the women were coerced to pay unwholesome amounts of money, despite the state government having released the sum of N100 million for the said function.”
Roobbs Communications described placing Mr. Ibya's wife, year-old baby and sister under arrest as “barbaric” and out of tune with the laws of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly in view of the new the Freedom of Information law.
“It is sad that the Nigerian police, despite spirited efforts by the government to redeem its battered image and position it on proper pedestal to discharge its duties in accordance with the law, has continued to shoot itself in the foot with its recklessness and abusive tendencies,” the newspaper management said, calling for the hostages to be released with immediate effect and the law allowed to prevail.
