How abducted FirstNews Editor was released
A Nigerian journalist, Segun Olatunji, regained his freedom on Thursday after 14 days in a military facility in Abuja.
Olatunji’s release was made known on Thursday, March 28, at a joint press briefing by the International Press Institute, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, and the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Abuja.
Olatunji, who is the Editor of FirstNews, an online medium, was allegedly abducted from his home in Lagos, on 15 March. He said hours later he was blindfolded and flown into Abuja on a military aircraft.
However, the military authorities denied Olatunji’s abduction until Wednesday evening when they admitted detaining the journalist.
When confronted by three journalists associations in Nigeria, the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, a general, and the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Emmanuel Undiandeye, a major general, “lied that the journalist was not in their custody” while the journalist (Olatunji) was being detained and tortured by the Defence Intelligence Agency in Abuja.
The Secretary of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Iyobosa Uwugiaren, read the joint press statement.
At the press briefing on Thursday, Uwugiaren was flanked by Musikilu Mojeed, the Editor-in-Chief of Premium Times and President, the International Press Institute in Nigeria as well as the President of the NUJ, Chris Isiguzo, and Mr Olatunji.
The IPI, NGE, and NUJ had consistently advocated for Olatunji’s release.
Uwugiaren explained how Olatunji was released.
He said that the DIA phoned Yomi Odunuga, a deputy editor at the Nation Newspaper, to come to its facility at the Asokoro District of Abuja to receive the detained journalist.
While Odunuga was riding in a car with Uwugiaren in Abuja, he said the duo kept receiving phone calls from the DIA, directing them to different places where they were to receive Olatunji.
He said the military personnel directed Odunuga and Uwugiaren to a bridge in Asokoro where Olatunji was eventually released to them after Odunuga signed a bail bond for the detained journalist.
One of the conditions for Olatunji’s release, according to him, is that Odunuga must produce the former whenever he is required in court.
Recounting his ordeal at the hands of the military, Olatunji said his life was no longer safe on account of the manner he was abducted from his home, blindfolded and tortured by the soldiers.
He said the DIA had allegedly hacked his phone and tracking his movements for weeks before his abduction on March 15.
Olatunji said: “My life is not safe because they (military) know my house. They had been trailing me three weeks before the arrest.
“My life is no longer safe given the manner the soldiers tracked me from my village to Lagos before my abduction.
“I was with my seven-year-old son when the army broke into the house. They bundled me into their vehicle.”
On his experience while in detention, Olatunji said the military took away his eyeglasses before they blindfolded and handcuffed him.
“I was blindfolded and groaning in pain. I can still feel the numbness on my right wrist because of the handcuffs. They cuffed my legs and put me in an underground cell.
“Last night, I was asked to call someone who would stand as a surety. It was then that I phoned Yomi Odunuga.”
He thanked Nigerian journalists and everyone who pressured the military for his release.
At the press briefing on Thursday, the IPI, NGE, and NUJ urged President Bola Tinubu not to condone the arbitrary arrest and detention of Olatunji by the military.
They described the military’s action as “vicious, uncivilized and criminal.”
Uwugiaren who spoke on behalf of others, said: “The action is alien to Nigeria’s democratic space. It is now clear that there are some officers in our military who are still finding it difficult to subject themselves to civil authority 24 years after our country returned to representative governance.
“If officers in a military institution like the DIA could hack a journalist’s telephone, mishandle his wife, abduct him, detain him secretly for 14 days, and disobey senior officials of the Federal Government, then our democracy cannot be said to be safe.”
He added that the military’s action was an attack on press freedom in Nigeria.
“Without freedom of the press, our democracy is endangered,” he said while acknowledging the efforts of Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, in securing Olatunji’s release.
