Rights group, Amnesty International, has called on the Nigerian authorities to immediately release a lady arrested for reviewing a product.
News About Nigeria recalls that Chioma Okoli, a Nigerian woman who alleged that a tomato paste she purchased at a market tasted like sugar, was detained over her comments on the tomato paste. Erisco Foods Limited, a Lagos-based company, produces the paste, known as Nagiko tomato mix.
Chioma Okoli, the woman, posted the review on her Facebook page on September 17.
According to reports, she was arrested on Sunday.
In a tweet on Monday, Babatunde Irukere, the director of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council, confirmed the arrest. He also stated that the case had been transferred to Abuja because she was no longer at the station where she was detained.
He went on to say that his organization was working to discover the specific location and was engaging the police in Abuja and that a summons would be sent to @EriscoFoodsLtd right away.
However, calling for the immediate release of the lady in a statement made available on its official Twitter handle, Amnesty International wrote:
“The Nigerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Chioma Egodi, allegedly arrested by the Nigeria Police Force @PoliceNG on the order of Erisco Food, over an online review of its product,” a statement by Amnesty International read.
According to the rights group, no one should ever be jailed for expressing their right to free expression. The arrest of Chioma Egodi demonstrates that, despite the government’s lip service to police reform, impunity for wrongful arrests persists.
