By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Nigeria Police Force has come under pressure by a group of civil society organisations working to preserve whistle blowing as a fundamental right of free expression to immediately drop the charges against a whistlebower, Emeh Nnamdi.

Nnamdi, a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, is doing his one year mandatory service with the Anambra State Police Command and is currently facing charges of "unlawful possession of firearm, money laundering, defamation of character, fraud, and impersonation," preferred against him by the Police.

The group, comprising African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), HEDA Resource Centre, Accountability Lab, Progressive Impact Organisation for Community, among 14 others, in a statement, described the charges against Nnamdi as trumped-up for exposing human rights violations by the Police.

The 26 year-old Information and Technology Consultant was taken into custody on March 3, 2022, by INTERPOL, after two weeks on the run.

He is currently detained at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, where, the group suspects he may be undergoing possible ill-treatment, instead of being protected by the Police, for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.

"Nnamdi’s crime was that he revealed shocking details about Police extortion, torture, extrajudicial executions and organ harvesting by senior Police Officers in Anambra State.

"On February 16, 2023, Gistlover, an independent digital news and entertainment platform, revealed the shocking details about how senior Police Officers in Zone 13 and Anambra State command were involved in extortion, extrajudicial execution, enforced disappearance, and organ harvesting of detainees in their custody.

"The story was corroborated by video evidence of former detainees who were forced to confess serious crimes and who disappeared shortly after. Some families of the victims have since confirmed the story.

"Shortly after the revelation, the Police announced that it will launch a full-scale investigation into the allegations, but instead of taking the accused Police Officers into custody, they declared Nnamdi, who works with the accused Police team, wanted, for sundry offences, including suspicion that he must have passed the vital information to Gistlover blog," the group explained.

It urged the Police to immediately release him or charge him accordingly, saying that Nnamdi could be at risk of ill-treatment if he is not released or charged to court immediately, arguing that no one should be charged under any law for disclosing information of human rights violations by the Police or the government, as such disclosures were protected under the rights to information and freedom of expression.

The group further emphasized that Whistleblowers were vital to building a transparent society.

The statement added: "By exercising the right to inform and be informed and the right of people to know, whistleblowers play a crucial part in the realization of accountability and good governance.

"They are essential to awakening informed debate within public opinion, crucial to opening up investigation by journalists, and necessary for questioning decision-makers. Whistleblowers are very important in the promotion of human rights, the rule of law, social justice and the fight against corruption.

"Nevertheless, whistleblowers in Nigeria remain in an extremely dangerous situation. Vulnerable, exposed to reprisals and pressure with psychological impacts on both themselves and their families; whistleblowers have persistently faced a wave of intimidation and often risk abusive defamation proceedings.”

"It is unfortunate that the laws relating to defamation, as well as the Nigerian Cybercrime Act 2015, continue to be abused and repeatedly used by the authorities in Nigeria to harass, intimidate and persecute whistleblowers, human rights defenders and activists.

"We believe that no one should be charged under any law for disclosing information of human rights violations by the Police or the government. Such disclosures are protected under the rights to information and freedom of expression."

The group therefore called on the Nigeria Police Force to immediately release and drop the charges against Nnamdi and other whistleblowers and ensure that they do not suffer any reprisal.

They also called for an “end the intimidation, harassment and attacks on whistleblowers, human rights defenders and activists,” adding that “Whistleblowers' right to speak up includes the right to expose and denounce cases of human rights abuses, to provide evidence and to inform the public.”

It equally enjoined the Police hierarch to “ensure that the report of the panel set up by the Police authorities to investigate the allegation against top Police Officers in Anambra State was released promptly and everybody indicted is prosecuted according to the law.”

The group further urged the federal government to accelerate the process of enacting the Whistleblower Protection Act to ensure the protection of whistleblowers and human rights defenders.

•Detainedwhistlebower Emeh Nnamdi a.k.a Gistlover