The Cross River State Command of the Nigeria Police Force apprehended Mr. Sunday Bassey, owner of Corner Stone Bush Bar Hotel in the Biase Local Government Area.
His arrest, along with other guests, occurred on Tuesday morning for openly discussing the armed police raid on his hotel on January 15, 2024, during which an alleged extortion of N310,000 took place.
According to a source speaking to SaharaReporters, the police, displeased with guests freely sharing details with journalists, arrived at the hotel, asking Bassey to produce a guest identified as a citizen journalist.
“The police went to the hotel this morning and they arrested Mr. Bassey and some of the guests who lodged in the hotel,” the source said.
One of the guests, who was also citizen journalist, Paul Ben Manasseh had also accused one of the police officers of trying to implicate him by dipping his hand in his pocket and bringing out an item believed to be “weed” during the encounter.
Many of the guests were injured during the operation.
The police spokesperson, Irene Ugbo when contacted for reaction initially told SaharaReporters that she was not aware of the incident, saying neither the police officers nor the victims reached out to her.
She therefore asked the victims to come to her office just as she promised to look in the matter.