Jonathan Elendu, President and CEO of Elendu and Associates, a PR firm;  Publisher of www.elendureports.com, online news outfit All based in Michigam, United States of America.

By arresting US-based online news publisher, Mr. Jonathan Elendu of Elendureports.com over news articles he published on his website, and with rumors that more US-based online news publishers have been marked for arrest anytime they are sighted in Nigeria, the government may have declared war that it may not be properly equipped to fight.

On about October 17, 2008 combined operatives of Nigerian State Security Service (SSS) and Immigration Service (NIS) arrested and detained Mr. Jonathan Elendu at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport, Abuja upon arrival in Nigeria from the U.S. citing national security concerns over his news reporting and his ability to lay hands on sensitive information about Nigerian governments.

Mr. Jonathan Elendu has been in detention for more than 7 days without charge, he has been denied access to his lawyers and family, and the security operatives gave press statement that his interrogation has been ongoing inside detention.

The point is that a lot of human rights violations case could be made here. The Nigerian government may have walked into a trap set by some un-armed but very aggressive Nigerian youths determined to find creative ways to topple who they believe are ‘armed robbers’ that have cornered and plundering the resources of the oil-rich nation.

‘Informational awareness warfare’ against Nigeria

“The fact is that rogues took over the control and management of huge resources of Nigeria in about 1966 and have plundered the nation till present. Nigerian masses are held hostage by these syndicates who have played all sorts of tribal and intellectual cards to keep the masses disorganized, divided and in-check. They had waged senseless wars, massacred innocent people, civilians, women and children; they had murdered/assassinated political opponents; they had introduced and perpetuated corruption to new heights, they had practically looted the treasury empty; they had bought over anyone that challenged them and those that could not be bought were summarily silenced; they had tortured and intimidated the masses. The society is practically under siege”, said one US-based online publisher who wants to remain anonymous.

After the murder of Nigerian topmost investigative news reporter/editor Mr. Dele Giwa on October 19, 1986, Nigerian news media got the message loud and clear, and they may not have recovered from that shock.

Some young radicals who attempted to speak up but were brutally ‘dealt with’ by the security forces and had escaped to the western countries for safety may have now regrouped and decided to wage ‘non-conventional warfare’, ‘informational awareness warfare’ against the syndicates holding Nigeria hostage.

These new brand of activists fearlessly publish factual news stories about corruptions, especially, stories involving Nigerian government officials they could lay their hands on. For this, Nigeria politicians and government officials and their associates are terrified.

Does Yar’Adua government have reason to be terrified and panicky?

The straight answer based on our investigation is: yes.

Yes, because the way the online publishers are able to get information of what is happening inside Aso Rock and even inside the bedroom of the occupants of that address would terrify anybody, more so, if the occupant is there by force or fraud.

Let’s explain the reference to ‘even inside the bedroom of the occupants’ of Aso Rock. Recently many photos of Nigeria President’s under-age son (13 years old according to some news reports) were published by some of the US-based online news outfits. On some of the pictures the young man was seen playing with what appears like AK-47 assault rifle. In another photo, he was shown playing with a lot of cash money. The fact that those kinds of pictures of the small boy were taken and sent to news publishers outside the shores of Nigeria, no doubt, will terrify any Nigerian first parents.

Let’s further explain the reference to ‘even inside the bedroom of the occupants’ of Aso Rock. When President Yar’Adua went on 17 days secret medical mission to Saudi Arabia, he apparently wanted to shield the truth from the people he rules. The way the US-based online news outfits were able to lay hands on details of his almost daily treatment activities and his response to treatment; including the reported refusal of the First Lady to donate her kidney while in Saudi hospital; the First Lady’s stubborn insistence that she could only donate her kidney if the President is moved to German hospital; the frantic effort to fly the President’s brother from Nigeria to donate his kidney, all of these played out on the US-based online news websites for all to know.

The point here is that Mr. President, the First Family, all the public office holders, especially, those that have so much to hide have good reason to panic at the feat of these brand of courageous news reporters.

Does Yar’Adua government have reasons to be angry and afraid of these non-violent radical youths?

Again, the straight answer is: yes.

Yes, given the reasoning of the Nigerian State Security Service (SSS) operatives, their worry that the opposition may be financing the US-based online news outfits, and most importantly, their fear that there may be people inside Aso Rock working for government opposition, are all cogent reasons to be concerned if one has a lot of ‘skeletons’ to hide.

On other hand, though, we researched the site of elendureports.com and saw an article written by Jonathan Elendu on Wednesday, 07 March 2007 titled: Yar'adua Dead.

The news article is shown in full below;

Yar'adua Dead
written by Jonathan Elendu
Wednesday, 07 March 2007

“The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gov. Musa Yar’ardua is dead. While details are scanty, multiple sources who spoke to Elendureports.com confirmed the passing of the prince who tried to continue in the political dynasty initiated by his older brother.”

“The PDP is yet to make an official statement on the demise of the Katsina State Governor, however, we are confident in the sources we have spoken to on this issue. Elendureports.com had broken the news of the Presidential candidate’s ill health and how he was flown out of the country for medical treatment yesterday. One of our sources confirmed to us that the Governor may have died before arriving Germany. Other reliable sources have corroborated the story of our initial source”.
   
“Elendureports.com has spoken to many politicians this morning since this story started making the rounds. We can report that there is confusion within the political ranks as nobody knows what will happen with the presidential election which is scheduled to come up in April. There are indications that the 2007 electoral bill may not have been signed into law by Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo. A frontline politician who spoke this reporter last night said “to the best of my knowledge Obasanjo has not signed the bill”.

“We will continue to update this developing story”.

It has to be pointed out, though, that we did not see any published retraction after it was apparently discovered that the story was false.

Is hounding, hunting and arresting the US-based online news publishers the answer?

The straight answer is resounding NO; and this is really where the Nigerian State Security Service (SSS) operatives goofed so badly.

The desire to find out whether the government opposition went inside the First Family’s bedroom and gave what appear like AK-47 assault rifle and lots of cash money to their 13 years old son and took those pictures; and the desire to find out whether the government opposition went inside the First Family’s bedroom and inspired the First Lady to refuse donating her kidney to the ailing President in Saudi Arabia, and inspired her to insistence on doing so only if the President is moved to German hospital;  and the desire to find out whether the government opposition got inside the First Family’s bedroom to get these information and leaked them to US-based online publishers are all somewhat iffy.

However, violating the online publishers for doing their work of accurate reporting of facts and expressing their opinions under freedom of speech, no matter how offensive those facts and opinions may be, is clearly unacceptable.

By arresting Mr. Jonathan Elendu, the State Security Service did great dis-service to President Yar’Adua, the First Family, their image and freedom of speech. In-fact, Mr. Elendu is not a security risk in all these, but the actions of State Security Service (SSS) are.

If actually the government wants to find out whether the opposition is financing the US-based online news outfits and whether the government opposition have people inside Aso Rock working for them, there are better ways to discreetly and professionally do it without rubbishing Mr. President, denting  his public image and portraying his government as reckless and lawless.

Significance of the arrest

The arrest of Mr. Elendu by the elite State Security Service is testimony of Nigeria government recognition of the huge influence the US-based online outfits weld on the larger society, and clear measure of government’s discomfort on the popularity of the outfits.

One thing is certain; Yar’Adua government is terrified on uncanny ability of the US-based online outfits to access sensitive information on governments in Nigeria, and wants to stop it by all means.

The conventional Nigeria local news media were noticeably slow in reporting and responding to the arrest of Mr. Elendu. Some have understandably attributed this to probable feeling of complex, jealousy and ineptitude. Honestly speaking, these guys, the feats of the US-based online outfits have made ‘mockery’ of the established conventional Nigeria local news media;  by threading where angels feared to, and by publishing stories which conventional Nigeria local news media in Nigeria would not touch.

Jonathan Elendu: anti-corruption activist or ‘anything goes’ businessman?

Truthfully, Mr. Jonathan Elendu may have left investigative reporting long time ago. Our investigation reveals that he has not reported on corrupt Nigerian politicians in a very along time. Reports indicate that he is no longer chasing corrupt politicians with view to stop corruption in Nigeria; rather, he may have diverted his attention to his main passion which is money making public relation business.

Mr. Elendu had done couple of ‘informercials’ and other public relations for Nigerians government officials, some of them being the very same group of politicians earlier criticized, an issue that had drawn criticism from his former colleagues in the aggressive anti-corruption movement, an issue which resulted in major split.

Recently, Mr. Elendu has shifted his focus reporting on the turbulent Niger Delta region. Some ague that reporting on Niger Delta could be a bit lucrative and very risky. Nigerian government is somewhat paranoid when issues concerning Niger Delta region are raised. In-fact, Nigerian security forces had arrested foreign and local human rights activists (Dr. Judith Asuni and co., Sept. 2007), film makers and reporters (Andrew Berends and co., August 2008; and Sandy Cioffi & co., April 2008) for their work in the Niger Delta region.

The facts remains that the full truth has not been told on the arrest of Jonathan Elendu. No one knows whether he was arrested for reporting about President Yar’Adua, or whether he was arrested for reporting on other overtly more corrupt politicians, or for reporting on the Niger Delta region, or whether he was arrested in the course of public relation business deals with corrupt Nigerian politicians gone sour.

Way forward

Arresting and torturing Mr. Elendu is not good for President Yar’Adua and the First Family; it is not good for security of Nigeria and definitely not good for State Security Service (SSS).

Arresting Mr. Elendu will not stop online blogging, the newest and fastest growing form of news service. Honestly, online blogging is not like newspaper houses, radio and television stations which the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) could shut down by withdrawing their licenses. Fighting bloggers is a different kind of warfare; it’s like fighting the aliens and some unseen forces; and there is strong feeling that Nigerian government may not be equipped for this kind of warfare.

And if any sort of harm befalls Mr. Elendu as a result of his forced ‘invitation’, which some refer to as kidnapping, illegal arrest and detention, Nigerian government and officials responsible for such may pay dearly for it.

We are therefore pressing on Nigerian government to truly uphold the rule of law and release Mr. Jonathan Elendu immediately. In the alternative, charge him to court immediately, if the government feels he had committed any crime.

Furthermore, Nigerian Minister of Communications should lead a delegation to reach out to online news bloggers for peace, calm, conciliation and good public image.