Information reaching DGN Online indicates that a broadcast journalist Blessed Godsbrain Smart, popularly known as Captain Smart, has been arrested by the NIB.
His arrest was in connection with a recording on his show on Onua TV, in which he is heard inciting the Ghana Armed Forces against Members of Parliament and also calling on them to stage an uprising.
“Where we have reached, we require an uprising with positive defiance. I am even shocked at Ghana’s soldiers. You can enter Parliament when MPs are being sworn in but when MPs are fooling, you can’t enter Parliament. Everybody is quiet in this country,” he chanted.
However, the National Investigation Bureau (NIB) on Thursday afternoon picked him up at a coded location.
A source confirmed that “He was picked up about 4pm and handed over to the Police for further interrogation and the appropriate charges slapped on him”.
Captain Smart as gathered is being processed for Court as Media General is trying to secure bail for him although he’s not behind bars.
A source at his office confirmed that “Captain Smart informed his employers of his arrest and a lawyer was dispatched to go and provide legal advice to him while being questioned by the security agents”.
Meanwhile, the National Media Commission (NMC) has cautioned Accra-based media house, Onua FM that it is concerned about part of its broadcast.
According to a release from the NMC “Part of your broadcast raises concern for the peace and security of the country in a manner that demands immediate regulatory action”.
“We are particularly concerned about a recent broadcast in which “Captain Smart” calls for insurrection against the state of Ghana and its institutions,” the NMC has stated.
The release from the NMC dated 2nd December, 2021 and signed by George Sarpong, Executive Secretary, and addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, Onua Fm, Accra. It was titled ‘UNPROFESSIONAL AND INCITEFUL BROADCAST’.
The NMC said that the impugned broadcast by all standards crosses the line of robust and critical broadcasting and transforms your radio station into a megaphone of war.
“While that particular broadcast, without more, constitutes adequate grounds for regulatory action, we still retain the belief that given the chance, management could take steps to bring your content unto a level of professional acceptability. We are fortified in this belief by the fact that considerable parts of your other broadcast, including the news, offer that hope.
“We would be glad if you noted that exercising the required professional caution is in your interest,” the report said.
The letter to Onua FM was copied to the President, Ghana Journalists Association, Accra; the President, Ghana Independent Broadcasters’ Association, Accra; the President, Private Newspaper Publishers’ Association, Accra, and the media.
BY Daniel Bampoe