Abayomi Shogunle, the Commissioner of Police for the Special Intervention Squad, has made false claims about the obligation of journalists to provide the source of information or evidence.
Shogunle was trying to defend the police’s arrest and detention of Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters, on Friday.
He stated that the former presidential aspirant of the African Action Congress (AAC) is mandated to provide the source of a document he published about the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
The forged document accusation is one of the two reasons the police have used to try to justify rearresting Sowore after he honoured their invitation on Tuesday.
The two petitions against Omoyele Sowore were shown to him right in my presence. One bordered on forgery of a police document, which he published online, and we all know the position of the law,” Shogunle said while addressing protesters.
“It is your duty to provide a source of how you came about the forged document.”
Shogunle’s statements contradict statutes and legal instruments that keep journalists from disclosing information that would put their sources in harm’s way.
The protection of one’s sources is both provided for in local and international laws.
THE EVIDENCE ACT, 2011
The Evidence Act of 2011 governs how evidence can be admitted and used to evaluate a case in any judicial proceeding. It outlines the types of evidence that can be presented in court and how that evidence should be presented and assessed.
Under this Act, a journalist is protected from disclosing the source of a publication that has led to a charge unless the issue is in the interest of justice or concerns national security.
“No court shall require a person to disclose the source of information contained in a publication for which he is responsible, where such information has led to the publication being the subject matter of a charge for any offence, unless it is established to the satisfaction of the court that such disclosure is necessary in the interest of justice or national security or for the prevention of disorder or crime,” part of the Act reads.
AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS
Nigeria ratified the African Charter in 1983 and domesticated it into national law, giving it the same force as an Act of the National Assembly.
Article 9 of the Charter guarantees every individual the right to receive information and to express and disseminate opinions within the law.
The police commissioner said it was Sowore’s duty to provide the source of the document he published. That is incorrect.
Journalists have the right to protect their sources’ identities in a free press society.
UN PLAN OF ACTION ON THE SAFETY OF JOURNALISTS AND THE ISSUE OF IMPUNITY (2012)
Under the UN Plan of Action on the safety of journalists and the issue of impurity (2012), endorsed by the United Nations and led by UNESCO, states are urged to adopt laws that guarantee journalists the right to protect the confidentiality of their sources. The plan emphasises that any exception must be narrowly defined, lawful, and necessary for a legitimate aim such as national security or preventing serious crime.
This aligns with Article 19 of the international convenant on civil and political rights (ICCPR), which Nigeria has ratified, and which the UN Human Rights Committee interprets as safeguarding journalists’ right to maintain source confidentiality.