Nigerian journalist and blogger, Kemi Olunloyo and a Port Harcourt-based publisher, Samuel Walson have been sent to prison after hearing on their bail application was stalled on Thursday.
It was gathered that the absence Magistrate Alatuwo Fubara of the Magistrates’ Court in Port Harcourt who was expected to preside over the matter, forced them to stay back in prison custody.
According to Punch, Olunloyo and Walson were arrested for purportedly publishing materials believed to have defamed a frontline cleric, Pastor David Ibiyeomie, of the Salvation Ministries in Port Harcourt.
The magistrate was said to have been unable to come to the court due to ill health.
The duo’s lawyers and counsel for Salvation Ministries were present at court. Others at the court were journalists and bloggers, who came to cover the hearing and also show solidarity to their colleagues.
Olunloyo, who was arrested in Ibadan and Walson, apprehended in Port Harcourt, were remanded at the Port Harcourt Prison.
