FLASHBACK: How Soldiers Detained, Held Another Journalist for 2 Weeks

FLASHBACK: How Soldiers Detained, Held Another Journalist for 2 Weeks

Last week, the 6th Amphibious Division of the Nigerian Army based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, detained and held ‘Fisayo Soyombo, FIJ’s founder and editor-in-chief, incommunicado for three days.

Soyombo was investigating the underworld of multi-billion dollar oil bunkering in Nigeria’s oil-abundant Niger Delta region when the army detained him.

In the course of the investigative journalist’s work, the army came to the location where the oil theft was being carried out and the oil bunkerers immediately fled. This happened on Wednesday, around 2 am.

Having nothing to hide, Soyombo chose not to flee just like the oil thieves. Instead, he approached the soldiers, hoping to have an interaction with them. Rather than engage the journalist in a conversation, he was detained for three days without the opportunity to contact his lawyer or staff. While in detention, Soyombo was grilled by different army officials until about 11 pm on the same day.

While Soyombo was being detained, the army also issued a misleading statement claiming he was “arrested alongside suspected criminals at an illegal oil bunkering site”.

By Friday morning, the army had no choice but to release Soyombo when calls for his release by Nigerians reigned supreme on several social media platforms and media houses.

The FIJ founder would later describe how the army deliberately sabotaged his personal security by transmitting the information extracted from him while in detention to oil thieves.

Just like the army did to Soyombo, they also indiscriminately arrested and detained Segun Olatunji, the editor of FirstNews, in March.

SEGUN OLATUNJI’S DETENTION

On March 15, soldiers numbering about 15 stormed the Lagos residence of Segun Olatunji, the former editor of FirstNews, and then arrested him.

The soldiers then subsequently kept him in an underground military cell for two weeks.

It was later revealed that his arrest by the army was connected to an article he published on how Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria, attempted to corner $30 billion and 66 landed properties traced to Tunde Sabiu Yusuf, a former aide to former president Muhammadu Buhari.

“It was an ugly situation, a gestapo-like operation, which means using a combination of surveillance, intimidation, fear and torture against someone accused of state crimes,” Olatunji said in an interview with FIJ after his release.

“On that Friday, March 15, well-armed military men, comprising Army, Air Force, Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and Strike Force operatives, stormed my residence in Lagos a few minutes after 6 pm. I had just finished watching the popular television programme, Journalists Hangout, on TVC with my seven-year-old son.

Read Also: Fisayo Soyombo’s Words on How, Why Army Held Him Incommunicado…

“The military men had earlier arrested my wife and our 16-month-old baby and another woman and her two young children who were found with them in her shop nearby, confiscated her two cell phones, bundled all of them into their van and forced them to lead the armed men to our residence.

“Upon their arrival in my house, the armed men burst into our living room and their leader immediately confiscated my two phones and said, “We’re from the military. We’re here to arrest you!” When I asked him to identify himself and produce a warrant for my arrest, he just insisted they had orders to effect my arrest and they had no time to waste.

“I then told them they should allow me to go into the bedroom to put on a shirt and trousers, as I was only in my boxer shots when they came in. Some of the armed soldiers then escorted me inside the bedroom, where I quickly dressed up and followed them. By the time we got outside the house, I saw more armed men in about three or four military vehicles and on power bikes. The armed men then quickly shoved me inside a van in the middle of their convoy.

“Inside the van, two stern-looking armed men hemmed me on both sides. Attempts by my wife to ascertain from my abductors where they were taking me were rebuffed by the stern-looking men and their boss, who I later identified as Col. Lawal.

Read Also: Illegal Oil Bunkering: Army Has Compromised My Personal Security,…

“My wife and our two young children then started wailing as the armed men drove me away in their vehicles. At this point, I was overwhelmed by emotions seeing my wife and children crying, and I, too, broke into tears inside of me. It was a harrowing experience for me and my family because my wife and children had now become traumatised by this incident. They had never seen such a large number of armed men in their lives, not to talk of the situation where these men actually came and suddenly took away their breadwinner to an unknown destination in such a gestapo-like manner.”

After the army arrested Olatunji at his residence, he was transported to the Defence Intelligence Agency office in Abuja where he was kept in an underground cell for two weeks with his arms and legs chained. FIJ