First News editor Segun Olatunji was taken on March 15, 2024, by armed men identifying themselves as Nigerian army officers. (Photo courtesy First News)
By Evelyn Okakwu,
The arrest and detention of Segun Olatunji, the then-editor of the privately owned First News site, by Nigeria’s military in March triggered an outcry from local and international civil society, highlighting an uptick in the unlawful detention of journalists in the West African nation.
Olatunji was taken from his Alagbado home in southwestern Lagos state by more than a dozen armed men who refused to disclose any charges against him or where they were taking him. His wife searched for him at local law enforcement offices without success.
Two weeks later, Olatunji was released without charge under a bridge in the capital Abuja, more than 400 miles from home.
“There are cases where journalists doing their legitimate work are arrested and detained without prosecution in ways that do not certify the dignity of human existence,” lawmaker Clement Jimbo told CPJ. “It is necessary we call the attention of those concerned to this trajectory that is not healthy for our country,” said the politician, who introduced a motion to the House of Representatives this month calling on security agencies to respect the rights of journalists.
CPJ has documented two other cases this year where police officers have seized journalists in connection with their work, without producing a warrant to enter their homes, disclosing the reason for their arrest, or allowing them to contact a lawyer.
On May 1, Foundation for Investigative Journalism reporter Daniel went missing in Lagos and was found in police custody days later in Abuja. On May 22, the publisher and editor-in-chief of Global Upfront Newspapers Madu was also arrested by about 10 armed police officers at home in Abuja and driven more than 200 miles away to a police station in southeastern Enugu state.
In both cases, the journalists told CPJ that, they were released without charge, hundreds of miles from home, and authorities continue to question the journalists they told CPJ in July.
Federal Capital Territory police spokesperson Josephine Adeh told CPJ on July 23 that she did not recall the two cases and believed they were not handled by her unit. The Abuja Force Headquarters police spokesperson Prince Olumuyiwa Adejobi told CPJ on July 30 that the Nigeria Police Force national cybercrime center continues to investigate allegations against Ojuwkwu and that the center would update the entire force when investigations were over.
CPJ’s calls to army spokesperson Onyema Nwachukwu, as well as calls and text messages to Enugu police spokesperson Daniel Ndukwe Ekea to request comment went unanswered.
In this interview with CPJ, Olatunji shares why he believes he was arrested, how he was treated in custody, and why he subsequently resigned from his job. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How were you arrested?
They entered my living room. One of them said, “We are from the military. We are here to arrest you.” They took me in their van [and] they drove. Close to the Air Force Base, I realized they might be taking me to Abuja. One of them came to me, pulled off my glasses, and then put a blindfold over my face and dragged me to the aircraft. After a while, we landed in Abuja. I was still blindfolded and handcuffed.
How were you treated in detention?
When we got inside the Defence Intelligence Agency’s office, they added leg chains and dragged me to the underground cell. That same day, one of the officers came and tightened the cuffs on my right hand and leg. The iron was cutting into my skin. They did not remove them until Monday [three days later].
Did they question you about your reporting?
At first, they told me that I was abusing their boss because we had published a story that the chief of defense intelligence had been running his office like a family business. But they just brought that as a preamble.
They later went to the crux of the matter. It was a story we published in January about the Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria Femi Gbajabiamila attempting to divert US$30 billion and houses to Tunde Sabiu Yusuf, a nephew and an aide to the former President Muhammadu Buhari. They were asking me about the sources.
They did not say anybody complained against me. From their utterances, you would know that somebody asked them to do what they were doing. They asked to me write to apologize to Gbajabiamila. They said they would keep me there and I would not be able to do anything.
(When CPJ called Gbajabiamila’s phone line on July 29, the call did not connect. Text messages delivered to that phone line received no replies.)
How did they try to find out your sources?
My phone had been with them. They had forced me to give them the password. They brought my phone and were going through my WhatsApp chats. They mentioned one particular person as my source.
They told me that, “If you don’t know, we have been trailing you for long.” They told me that they followed me to my hometown in Ondo State. They told me, “We knew the bus you took when you were leaving … and how you took another bus going [back] to Lagos.” And they were right.
How were you freed?
On the second Wednesday, when the story had gone around that they were the ones holding me, they came very late in the night to my cell and asked me, “Who do you know in Abuja that can guarantee [as a surety for] your release?” I quickly remembered Yomi Odunuga of The Nation [newspaper]. So, I told them [and Odunuga came to assist my release].
What happened next?
They told me that they knew everything about me. They knew my house and could come back for me at any time. And the only condition they gave my friend [Odunuga], who signed my bail bond under the bridge that day, was that he should be ready to produce me anytime.
Why did you resign from First News?
They [First News management] apologized to Gbajabiamila and said that the story was false. I stand by the story. So the honorable thing for me to do was to resign.
How is your life now?
Since I came back [from detention], I have been living like a refugee. Come in [to the house], pick some clothes, and run away. I used to have an ulcer. Because of my experience there [in Abuja], that thing [the ulcer] came back.
My family is not happy. They want me to quit [journalism]. This is not the first time this has happened. It is the third time. When I was with The Punch newspaper in Kaduna [state], security officers arrested me twice in 2011 and 2013. They accused me of threatening national security over different stories, but in both cases, I was released the same day.
Regarding my safety, the situation has not changed. People have been telling me that that man’s [Gbajabiamila’s] people are threatening to harm me wherever they see me.
I am not working yet. I need to rest.
Evelyn Okakwu joined the Committee to Protect Journalists as a Nigeria consultant in August 2019. She was appointed CPJ’s West Africa correspondent in January 2021. Okakwu previously worked for four years as a judiciary correspondent for the Premium Times online newspaper and for two years as a general assignment reporter with the Peoples Daily newspaper in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Okakwu has a Higher National Diploma from the Federal Polytechnic Mubi, Adama State, Nigeria.
