Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria guarantees freedom of expression and the press. Apart from this, Section 22 of the same constitution also places on the press, the responsibility of holding the government and people to account at all times.

In the same vein, other international treaties and conventions, to which Nigeria is a signatory, also recognise the right of the press as fundamental to the existence of democracy.

Since assuming office in 2023, however, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government has, through its various security agents, chosen not to respect the rights of journalists.

This is evident in the numerous indiscriminate arrests and needless invitations Nigerian journalists are being constantly subjected to by the police and other security agencies.

READ ALSO: EXCLUSIVE: Handcuffed for Days, Thrown in a Hole, 6 Days of Solitary Confinement… How Police Dehumanised PIDOMNigeria

While these invitations are being sent out and the arrests are also made, the police are also always very quick to cite the now-repealed Section 24 of the Cybercrimes Act of 2015 as the basis for their action.

In the last 21 days, the police and other security outfits in Nigeria arrested two journalists, made one journalist honour its invitation and also sent out an invitation to a fourth journalist.

All four journalists, however, had one thing in common: they were either arrested or invited by the police for holding the government and people to account.

ISAAC BRISTOL (PIDOM)’S ARREST

On August 5, plainclothes policemen numbering about 15 broke into a hotel room in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, occupied by Isaac Bristol, a microblogger and leak journalist known popularly as @PIDOMNigeria, and abducted him.

His abductors then subsequently transported him to the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Abuja.

Prior to this trip to the FCID, he had been in solitary confinement for at least six days in an anti-kidnapping unit. After spending several days at the anti-kidnapping unit, he was again transferred to a different facility.

While at the anti-kidnapping unit, he was thrown into a “hole”, denied food, water and access to other human beings, and also kept in handcuffs all through.

Bristol was also made to wear the same clothes he wore when he was first abducted for at least 18 days.

READ ALSO: Police Restrict Access to ‘PIDOM’, Set to Move Him to Underground Facility

Presently, the police are demanding two Level 16 civil servants who own landed property worth at least N500 million in Abuja as sureties for Bristol’s bail. The conditions for his release are deemed to be quite stringent.

By August 25, the police decided to take things one notch up by again denying Bristol access to his lawyers and family members.

The leak journalist has been accused of a breach of the Official Secrets Act (OSA), terrorism financing, espionage, treasonable felony, computer wire fraud and unauthorised removal of classified documents.

‘FISAYO SOYOMBO

On August 14, ‘Fisayo Soyombo, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (EQ), voluntarily reported at the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCC) in Abuja based on publicly available information that “he was wanted by the police”.

Soyombo honoured the invitation in the company of Abimbola Ojenike, EQ’s lawyer.

He was subsequently kept for eight hours before being eventually released on bail. As part of the bail conditions, he must report at the NPF-NCCC headquarters in Abuja for bi-weekly meetings.

READ ALSO: UPDATED: NPF-NCCC Releases EQ Founder on Bail

It would later be revealed that the police extended the invitation to Soyombo as a result of a story EQ had published on the corrupt and sharp practices of Orelope Adefulire, a former Lagos State deputy governor, while she was senior special assistant on sustainable development goals (SSAP-SDGs) under the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Daniel Ojukwu, an EQ senior reporter, was abducted and detained for 10 days by the police in May for the same story.

ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD

On August 15, Abdulrasheed Hammad, a freelance journalist, received a phone call from an official of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Sokoto State.

During the phone conversation, the official who introduced himself as Muhammed Ahmed told the journalist that the invitation was connected to his investigative story that had been published by TheCable.

In the story, Hammad exposed how many sachet water factories that were not NAFDAC-registered produced contaminated water that was meant for public consumption in the state.

When the journalist told the DSS official that he was no longer in Sokoto, the latter resorted to issuing threats, saying the DSS would see to it that Hammad got arrested. The official again called the reporter on August 19 to re-echo his threat.

READ ALSO: DSS Harassing Journalist for Exposing Unregistered Sachet Water Factory in Sokoto

After the second phone call from the DSS official, the management of TheCable asked the DSS to write a letter of invitation to the company as a precursor to the journalist showing up.

The Sokoto DSS insisted, however, that it would not directly deal with the newspaper.

Further options, which included an interview with Hammad at the Abuja office of the secret police, provided by TheCable were also rejected.

ADEJUWON SOYINKA

Adejuwon Soyinka, a journalist with the Conversation Africa, was arrested in Lagos by the DSS on Sunday after he was placed on a watchlist by an unnamed agency.

Soyinka, the Conversation Africa’s West Africa editor, was detained for six hours after the DSS officials stopped him on the basis that something was wrong with his passport. The journalist had just arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos from a United Kingdom (UK) trip when DSS officials accosted him.

READ ALSO: DSS Arrested Journalist at Lagos Airport After Unnamed Agency Placed Him on Watchlist

He was detained for six hours. During questioning, the DSS officials told the journalist that his name had been placed on a watch list by another unnamed state security agency for reasons that were not explained.

Soyinka’s passport was, however, withheld pending confirmation by the DSS that the unnamed agency that placed him on a watch list was no longer interested in him.
The post 4 High Profile Journalist Arrests and Police Invitations in the Past 21 Days appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.