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Lawyer accuses DSS of preventing family from seeing detained journalist

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The lawyer representing the detained sports reporter, Kufre Carter, has accused the Department of State Services (DSS) in Akwa Ibom State of preventing the man’s family from seeing him.

Carter, a journalist with a local radio station, XL 106.9 FM, Uyo, was arrested by the DSS on April 27 and charged with defamation for “castigating” the state Commissioner for Health, Dominic Ukpong, over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.

However, the radio station issued a press statement disowning the reporter shortly before he was arrested.

The lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, said in a statement that the secret police had prevented the detained journalist’s mother and sister from having access to him.

Carter had denied the charges and was granted bail by a magistrate court in the state.

But he is still in the DSS custody due to his inability to meet the bail conditions.

The lawyer said: “At about 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, 7th May, 2020, the aged mother, sister and another relative of our client, Kufre Carter, went to the Akwa Ibom State Command of the State Security Service (SSS) situated at Nsikak Eduok Avenue in Uyo with the sole aim of visiting our client but were rudely chased away and prevented from gaining access into the facility by operatives of the SSS.

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“While we continue to rest our hope on the judiciary as an independent arm of government, we are troubled by the continuous refusal of the SSS to allow Carter to have access to his lawyers and family. Our client’s mother did nothing wrong by making efforts to see her only son and also give him food.”

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