SECURITY operatives of the Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Flush Out III have arrested an American journalist and filmmaker, Andrew Berenbs and his Nigerian escort Samuel George, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The spokesman of the task force Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa told The Guardian that Berenbs was arrested at the Nembe Waterfront where he was taking video shots without permission from the JTF.
Also yesterday, the operatives of the JTF arrested 21 journalists and a worker of a Port Harcourt-based non-governmental organisation, Environmental Rights Action (ERA) in Otorogun, near Ughelli in Delta State for the same offence. They were later released last night but asked to report to the JTF office in Warri at 9.00 a.m. today.
Speaking with The Guardian, Musa said: “It’s was true that the troops of JTF Operation Flush Out III on static deployment in Nembe Waterside intercepted a whiteman taking video coverage of our deployment. He has been handed over to the State Security Service (SSS) for professional investigation to simply ascertain his mission and why he intruded into operational area.”
Part of the interrogation, according to the JTF spokesman, will involve questioning Berenbs of why he opted to take photographs and video shots of the troops without due clearance from the JTF headquarters.
“We don’t hide our operational activities but simplistic routine security clearance must be conducted for the safety of the person involved,” he said.
A source revealed to The Guardian that the American and his Nigerian guide ought to have been arraigned in a Port Harcourt high court yesterday but the security agents probably changed their minds.
Meanwhile, a group, Reporters Without Borders based in Paris, France has condemned the arrest of United States (U.S.) Berenbs and George, on allegation of spying. They alleged that Berenbs’ equipment, telephones and film were confiscated.
The group said: “Berenbs was arrested just for doing his job and no other reason. It is absurd for the authorities to think that, by arresting him and his interpreter, they can conceal the economic and ecological disaster unfolding in the Niger Delta. Both of them must be freed at once and left alone. This is the third time in a year that baseless charges of spying have been brought against foreign journalists.”
Reporters Without Borders alleged that after being arrested, Berenbs and George were detained in appalling conditions in a cell at the Port Harcourt headquarters of the SSS. The group further alleged the two suspects were given no food and very little water, and were subjected to repeated interrogation that prevented them from sleeping.
Berenbs has been in the Niger Delta since April, making a film about this strategic oil-producing area where government forces and militants have been fighting for over two years.
Four U.S. documentary filmmakers and their Nigerian fixers were held for six days on spying charges for the same reason in April. And two German journalists and a U.S. activists were detained for two weeks in September 2007 for similar reasons.
The 21 Nigerian journalists who were arrested alongside 10 workers of ERA were said to have gone on tour of a gas facility being operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company in the Otorogun area.
Among the journalists who are from Edo, Delta and Bayelsa states are Isaac Olamikan of the Niger Delta Standard; former Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Edo State chapter, Mr. Ralph Okhiria of New Nigerian; Mr. Felix Opute of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and his cameraman, Omafume Amuro (Niger Delta Standard, Warri), Miss Julie Akile, a reporter from the Urhobo Voice and other media organisations. Members of the community who had accompanied them on the tour were also arrested.
According to Olamikan who spoke on telephone from where they were being detained yesterday evening, the journalists had accompanied the ERA workers from Port Harcourt, Rivers State to monitor the level of gas flaring at the Otorogun Gas Plant when the security operatives arrested them.
It was gathered that men of the JTF were angry that the visitors did not get clearance from them or the appropriate quarters before embarking on the tour. But Olamikan told The Guardian that the community had assured them that they had got necessary clearance before they embarked on the tour of the gas complex. He said the JTF complained that they might have electronically recorded some facilities, which have grave security implications.
Also speaking on phone from where they were detained, Head of Legal Resources Department of ERA, Mr. Tima Williams said the ERA team and the journalists were in Ughelli to see the current reality of the flaring of gas at the plant after an enlightenment campaign when they were arrested by the security operatives.
The JTF spokesman in Delta Lt.-Col. Rabe Abubakar, while confirming the arrest of the journalists, said it was not meant to embarrass them but that the men that detained the journalists were newly posted to the area and might have done that because of the volatile nature of the area.
He stressed that it is indeed imperative for the JTF to be alerted by anybody or group before embarking on such assignments in the future.
In a statement entitled: “ERA flays arrest of activists, journalists,” the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) “condemned the arrest and detention of its officers, community elders and some journalists at Iwherekan community, Delta State by soldiers guarding gas flaring sites operated by Shell.” The group demanded their immediate release and an apology from the military and Shell.
In a statement issued in Benin City yesterday, ERA said some of its officers, elders, women, children and journalists from national newspapers and televisions stations including the Federal Government- owned Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) were arrested during a community interactive forum on the impact of gas flaring.
According to the group, about 25 persons including ERA/FoEN project Officer, Chima Williams, the plaintiff in the suit against gas flaring, Jonah Gbemre and a member of the Host Communities Network (HOCON), Mr. Che Ibegura, were arrested and detained by the soldiers while the camera of the NTA crew was seized and confiscated.
The statement quoted Nnimmo Bassey, ERA/FoEN Executive Director, saying: “We are shocked that this kind of reckless display of crude force which we thought had died and buried with the military junta of Gen. Sani Abacha has suddenly resurrected under the Yar’Adua administration. Why is government colluding with oil companies to shield the world from knowing the impact of gas flaring on the lives of Niger Delta people?
“This action has shown clearly that this government is not concerned about the impact of gas flaring on the livelihoods and health of Niger Delta people. It is also a clear evidence that what this administration has to offer for the genuine agitation of Niger Delta people for an end to gas flaring is, intimidation, crude force and cover-ups. It is so sad that this has happened under a government that has gone to the roof top to profess its belief in the rule of law.”
A Federal High Court sitting in the Edo State capital and presided over by Justice V. C Nwokorie, had on November 14, 2005 ordered Shell to stop gas flaring in Iwherekan Community by April 2007, saying it violates the fundamental right to life and dignity.
The suit was filed on July 20, 2005 by Gbemre on behalf of himself and Iwerekan against Shell, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Attorney General of the Federation, asking for the stoppage of gas flaring in the community.
The statement added: “Nigeria has been the world’s biggest gas flaring nation. The practice has contributed more greenhouse gas emissions than all other sources in sub-Saharan Africa combined, according to a World Bank 2002 statement. Flaring is bad for both the environment and the people in the Niger Delta. It can lead to leukaemia or asthma and premature death. It causes acid rain, which acidifies lakes and streams and damages vegetation.
“Tuesday’s arrest apparently was to intimidate the community and prevent environmentalists from their continued campaign for an end to gas flaring.”