{{Two Nigerian journalists have been charged with forgery on Tuesday over a story in which they accused President Goodluck Jonathan of launching a dirty tricks campaign against the opposition.}}<\/p>\n
Tony Amokeodo and Chibuzor Ukaibe, reporters for local daily Leadership, were detained last week after reporting that Jonathan had issued orders to frustrate a newly potent opposition by any means, including surveillance, ahead of 2015 presidential elections. They were later released.<\/p>\n
The story did not say to whom the directive was addressed, but it came complete with a document alleged to be a directive from the president.<\/p>\n
A court in the capital Abuja read out the charges of forging a presidential directive, which carry a maximum of seven years in prison and a minimum of three.<\/p>\n
Amokeodo, Leadership’s news editor, and Ukaibe, a political reporter, did not answer the charges, they said, because Amokeodo had not been able to see the charges.<\/p>\n
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has a relatively free press by the standards of the region, although journalists are sometimes targeted and harassed by security forces or ruling party thugs, especially in the build-up to elections.<\/p>\n
Reporters are also routinely put under surveillance by Nigeria’s secret service.<\/p>\n
Authorities usually tolerate vitriolic criticism of the president, but the presidency has reacted bitterly over what it says was a false allegation based on a forged document.<\/p>\n
The Committee to Protect Journalists last week called on Nigeria’s police force to “stop harassing Leadership’s staff.”<\/p>\n
{reuters}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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