By Wisdom Nwedene
In Africa, especially Nigeria, many journalists have been brutally attacked, some abducted while performing their duties as the watchdogs of the society.
In this report, we examine three Nigerian Journalists who have been abducted under President Bola Tinubu’s administration as he is set to clock one year in office.
(1) FirstNews Editor, Segun Olatunji
First in the list is Segun Olatunji of FirstNews who was abducted on March 15th, 2024 in his house in Lagos State.
Olatunji who regained his freedom last month after 14 days in military detention, recounted his ordeal in the hands of his abductors.
According to him, “On March 15 March, I was at my house in Lagos, watching ‘Journalists’ Hangout’ with my seven-year-old son, when suddenly, soldiers burst into the sitting room.
“I saw my wife and one-year-old son amongst them, crying. I asked what happened, and she said they arrested her from her shop and asked her to take them to where I was,” Mr Olatunji described how the soldiers used his wife as a bait to arrest him.
He would later learn while being incarcerated by the military that some intelligence officers had lodged at a hotel near his wife’s shop days before they invaded his house to effect his arrest.
Giving further insights into the event of 15 March, Mr Olatunji said he identified a top military officer among the menacing soldiers simply called Lawal, a colonel, from whom he sought to know why he was being arrested.
“I asked an officer, whom I identified as Colonel Lawal if I could know why they were looking for me, and he said no, that they were from the military and they were there to arrest me.
“Immediately, he seized my phones as he had earlier seized my wife’s phones. I said okay, let me go in and dress up since I was only in my boxer shorts; some of them (soldiers) even followed me to my room as I took my shirt and trousers.”
The embattled journalist said he stepped out of his house into a waiting crowd of armed military personnel comprising the army, Air Force and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
“They handcuffed me and put me into the vehicle. At first, I thought they were taking me to the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) in Apapa (Lagos), but then we made a detour to the Air Force Base and straight to the office of the National Air Defence Corps (NADC) where we waited for about three hours. I didn’t know we were waiting for a military aircraft to come pick me up.
“After a while, when the aircraft came, someone came to me and asked me to hand over my glasses and then put a blindfold on me.
“They moved me into the aircraft, and we took off; when we landed, they took all my clothes. I was left with my boxer shorts. They also put leg cuffs on me in addition to the handcuffs and put me in a cell,” Mr Olatunji narrated his perilous journey from Lagos to Abuja.
(2) Kasarachi Aniagolu ( The Whistler Newspaper)
According to the Newspaper, On February 22, a journalist with the Whistler Newspaper in Abuja, Kasarachi Aniagolu, was released from police custody after the female reporter was arrested the previous day by the anti-violence crime unit of the Nigerian Police Force while covering a raid on Bureau De Change operators in the Wuse Zone 4 area of Abuja.
She was arrested alongside 95 forex traders
In a statement announcing her release, the newspaper said Aniagolu was detained for about eight hours.
“Thanks to the collective efforts of media outlets, human rights organisations, and concerned individuals who amplified the injustice of her arrest. Ms Aniagolu was released on Wednesday night after approximately eight hours of illegal detention at the Anti-Violence Crime Unit of the Nigerian Police Force in Guzape, Abuja,” the statement said.
(3) Daniel Ojukwu (FIJ Reporter)
A Nigerian journalist with Foundation For Investigative Journalism, Daniel Ojukwu also reportedly went missing on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. His numbers were switched off, and his whereabouts were unknown to colleagues, family, and friends.
The newspaper, FIJ made a missing person report at police stations in the area where Ojukwu was headed, However, on Friday, a private detective hired by FIJ tracked the last active location of the journalist’s phones to an address in Isheri Olofin, a location FIJ believed was where the police picked him up.
Ojukwu’s family later got wind of his detention at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, where they were made to understand the authorities were accusing him of violating the 2015 Cybercrime Act.
His abduction came at a time when Nigerian journalists, last Thursday, joined their counterparts across the globe to mark the World Press Freedom Day.
FIJ noted that on the same day last year, World Press Freedom Day 2023, men of the Area F Police in Lagos arrested Ojukwu for telling them to stop punching a driver.
Ojukwu was given access to his phone on Sunday following sustained media pressure. He told his employers he had been moved to Abuja from Lagos.
On Sunday, Ojukwu’s employers confirmed a chat with him after four days since he was picked up.
“I’m currently in Abuja; I am at the NPF-NCCC – that’s the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre. I arrived this morning, and I was taken into a cell. All I know is that I’m in Abuja. This is the first time I’ve been given my phone since Wednesday. They (the NPF-NCCC agents) said that they were going to ask me questions. So, I’m waiting,” an FIJ report on Sunday quoted Ojukwu as saying.
As at the time of filing this report, Ojukwu is yet to be released to his family and friends.
