By Ochiaka Ugwu
The detained FirstNews Editor, Mr. Segun Olatunji who was released Thursday morning by the military after 14 days in detention has raised safety concern saying his life was in danger.
Olatunji whose release was announced Thursday at a press conference jointly addressed by three journalists’ organizations namely: Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) and International Press Institute (IPI) narrated how he was abducted from his home in Lagos on 15 March in a commando style by officers and men of Nigeria military.
Olatunji narrated how he was blindfolded and flown into Abuja on a military aircraft about three hours after his arrest.
He said his arresters hacked his phone, tracking his movements for weeks before his arrest on 15 March.
His words, “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,” he said.
“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.
“They asked me about stories we carried about the Chief of Staff…. Those behind my arrest were people in corridors of power who were not comfortable with what FirstNews was doing.
“Last night, I was asked to call someone who would stand as a surety. It was then that I phoned Yomi Odunuga” he concluded.
He thanked Nigerian journalists and everyone who worked assiduously for his release.
However, while the trio of NUJ, NGE and IPI described the military’s action as “vicious, uncivilized and criminal, they urged President Bola Tinubu not to condone arbitrary arrest and detention of Mr Olatunji by the military.
“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,” Mr Uwugiaren said.
He noted that the military’s action was an attack on press freedom in Nigeria.
