- Mrs. Alami Ayade May Have Withdrawn Her Petition
The police on Monday apologized to Agba Jalingo, the Publisher of Crossriverwatch Online newspaper. Also, there is an indication that the petition against him may have been withdrawn as Mrs. Elizabeth Alami Ayade, failed to show up at the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, command of the Nigeria Police Force to defend her criminal defamation petition against him.
Mr. Jalingo was arrested on Friday at his Lagos residence and flown to Abuja on Saturday, where he was briefly detained and released on administrative bail.
Omoleye Sowore, the Presidential Candidate of the Africa Action Congress, who accompanied Mr. Jalingo to the police command, told journalists that Mrs. Ayade did not show up at the police command on the excuse that she was traumatized.
“He (Jalingo) was asked to return this morning with the proviso that the lady in question should appear. But, when we got here, we were surprised, they said she has trauma. They said that she is supposed to write her statement since she is the complainant. But she couldn’t show up,”
He said Mr. Jalingo will not return there anytime soon. “I told the police that since Agba Jalingo is part of our campaign, they should wait till March 2023 before they continue the case. Anyway, there is no case here,” adding that the police “stylishly apologized for the way they treated him.” Said Mr. Sowore
The petition which was filed by the wife of the younger brother of the Cross River State Governor Mrs. Ayade had alleged that Jalingo defamed her character in a write-up.
Mr. Jalingo had presented a poser in his write-up in which he had demanded an explanation concerning a case of examination malpractice the petitioner is facing.
The petitioner had allegedly recruited a mercenary lecturer to write the Law School final examination for her. However, the lecturer was arrested and is presently facing prosecution.
Mr. Jalingo in his write-up had queried the law enforcement agencies handling the case why they had only arrested the mercenary-lecturer without also inviting his client for questioning.
Human Rights Lawyer Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) intervened in the case and demanded Jalingo’s release pointing out that it was a civil case that should not involve the police. Many human rights organizations had also condemned Jalingo’s arrest.
