In reaction to the recent detention of Nigerian journalist, Samuel Ogundipe who has just been released on bail after being arrested and detained for refusing to give the source of his report, rapper Eedris Abdulkareem called out the Police IG, Ibrahim Idris saying, ‘the young man will give you hundreds of sleepless nights and super high blood pressure if you are waiting for him to expose his source’.
He went on to say, ‘a Journalist would rather be tortured, jailed or in the extreme, killed rather than disclose his source. To the Journalist, it is sacrosanct, it is cardinal, it is the peak of his ethical responsibility to never disclose his source. Many have gone to jail and it is considered a badge of honour in the profession’.
According to Eedris, ‘Mr IGP, the young man, Samuel Ogundipe will give you hundreds of sleepless nights and super high blood pressure if you are waiting for him to expose his source. He would rather go to jail and when out, will be held in honour, promoted, sponsored by international organisations, remembered and used as reference by students of journalism and journalists world over. Mr IGP sir, what will you be remembered for beyond your transmissioning gaffe, will you even still be in the police force after this dispensation? What will you be remembered for? Putting a Journalist in jail? Disobeying the president? Oppression and suppression of truth? It sure doesn’t end here, Sir. Conscience is an open wound, Sir’.
