Nigerians have continued to demand the immediate release of Daniel Ojukwu, a journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, who has been in police detention since May 1, 2024.
Ojukwu was abducted by men of the Intelligence Response Team based on “orders from above.”
He was then taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Lagos State, where he was reportedly accused of violating the 2015 Cybercrime Act.
On Sunday, May 5, Ojukwu was transferred to the Nigeria Police Force – National Cybercrime Centre, in Abuja.
The FIJ, during this period, discovered the reporter was picked up for violating the Cybercrime Act of 2015, while the Nigeria Police Force remained mum on the matter.
On Thursday, protesters, including some Civil Society Organisations and concerned citizens, stormed the Force Headquarters in Abuja in protest of Ojukwu’s continued detention.
Prominent Nigerians including human rights activist and convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, were at the protest.
FIJ’s Board of Trustees Chairman, Bukola Shonibare, legal practitioner, Deji Adeyanju, and some media practitioners led the protest, holding banners and placards and chanting solidarity songs.
Sowore, tweeting as @YeleSowore late Wednesday, posted a video showing Ojukwu standing still in what looks like an office.
Sowore wrote, “This was detained @fijnigeria’s Daniel Ojukwu. Three days ago, we met him at the @PoliceNG detention location. They brought him out of his cell with a promise to release him if we provided a single surety.
“Yesterday, the @Policeng went on wild goose chase visiting the home and offices of the single surety, a high-ranking official of the @UnionNuj.
“Upon the completion of the ‘verification,’ they refused flatly to release him to the official. We learnt later that the IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, was personally behind his detention because his publication @fijnigeria linked the IGP to a powerful smuggler in Nigeria’s South-West. @Princemoye1 #FreeDanielOjukwuNow.”
Commenting under Sowore’s tweet, a tweep identified as Lagos Don, tweeting as @don_lagos89936, wrote, “IGP took the matter personal.”
However, coming in defence of the police boss, the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, responded Don’s tweet, cautioned that Egbetokun is innocent in the matter.
He added that the police team in charge of Ojukwu’s detention is led by a “competent” Commissioner of Police, who is “ready to do justice all the time.”
Adejobi wrote: “The IGP has no hand in this case. The team handling FIJ’s case is headed by a Commissioner of Police, who is competent and ready to do justice all the time. The police force has not erred in this case at all. The law must take its course. If Daniel Ojukwu produces a substantive surety today, he will be released on bail.”
Expressing their thoughts on the matter, some X users have blamed the police for detaining the journalist for over 48 hours.
An X user, Callme_Wéalth, tweeting as @Lexyzdoo, asked the FPRO, “I ask again, when you leave that office and retire, what will you be remembered for? What is your blueprint?”
Another user, Colonel Afzal, tweeeting as @Afzalgital, wrote, “When exposing crime is treated as a crime, you’re being ruled by criminals.”
A tweep, President Eniola Daniel, tweeting as @UnlimitedEniola, stated: “Journalists are now their enemies. It’s sad how we don’t get appreciated and still get victimised.”
In a telephone conversation with our correspondent on Thursday, a human rights lawyer and former chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja branch, Lagos State, Dr. Monday Ubani, frowned at the long detention of Ojukwu, which has lasted for more than 48 hours, adding that it’s wrong to put anyone on “an indefinite suspension,” saying “that’s not the purpose of crime prosecution, prevention and proceedings.”
“If somebody has committed a crime (like it’s done in civilised climes), before you arraign an individual, you must have done your homework in terms of investigation so that when you bring in the person, you don’t have to waste time in charging that person to court,” Ubani noted.
Similarly, human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, said, “The courts have held repeatedly that failure by a ‘suspect’ to meet conditions of administrative bail imposed by the police does not justify detention beyond the constitutional timeline of 24 hours.
“If Daniel Ojukwu is unable to meet your arbitrary and onerous bail conditions, which by the way offends the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 and the Police Act, 2020 that frowns at the imposition of stringent bail conditions, the right course of action is for the police to arraign him before a court of competent jurisdiction if he has committed an offence.”
On October 2023, Ojukwu reported how the then Senior Special Assistant on Sustainable Development Goals to the President, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire paid N147.1m to an account traced to Enseno Global Ventures, an Abuja-based restaurant, for the construction of classrooms.
The FIJ said it suspected the above report was the reason for his detention, hence, republished the investigation on Sunday.
The Founder and Publisher of FIJ, Fisayo Soyombo, had said the investigation was a representation of the facts and not mere allegations, based on the violation of the Cybercrime Act for which Ojukwu is being accused, saying, “We keep doing everything we can do behind the scenes,” adding that the abduction is “annoying.”
Meanwhile, the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of operations, DIG Ayuba Ede, had earlier revealed that the release of Ojukwu would be at the discretion of the IG.
The DIG said this on Thursday after journalists and concerned citizens stormed the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters in Abuja demanding the release of the reporter who works with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism.
During a closed-door meeting with our correspondent, and a member of a rights group, TakeItBack Movement, Oshioks Phillip, the DIG promised to submit the demands of the protesters to IG Egbetokun and the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the FCID, Abiodun Alabi.
He added that while details of the petition and the ongoing police investigation needed to be reviewed, the final decision on the release of the journalist would be based on the discretion of the IG.
Ede said, “It is good that you all have come here; and the protesters demonstrated peacefully without violence. Also, our men had coordinated themselves well.
“We are looking into the matter. My office is in charge of police operations, and that’s why I’m interacting with you over the protest at the Force Headquarters.
“We have heard your submission concerning how the reporter wrote an article and a petition was written against him, and he has been arrested. I will also contact the DIG in charge of the FCID to get details of the development as regards their investigation.
“Once I have the full details, we will relay the information to the IG, the IG is the person who would decide on the journalist’s release, he has the final say on the matter – whether to release him on bail or charge him to court.”
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