By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
After 7 days of abduction, Groups have continued to asked for the release of Daniel Ojukwu, a journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) was abducted by the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Inspector General of Police and is currently being held at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti in Lagos.
Ojukwu went missing on Wednesday May 1st, his numbers switched off and his whereabouts unknown to both colleagues, family and friends.
It was until on Friday 3rd of May , a private detective hired by FIJ tracked the last active location of his phones to an address in Isheri Olofin, a location FIJ now believes was where the police originally picked him up.
on Sunday 5th of May, the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Inspector General of Police relocated him to the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) in Abuja.
It was on Sunday, the police produced a petition showing, as FIJ suspected, that his abduction is in connection to FIJ’s story on how Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, the then senior special assistant on sustainable development goals (SSAP-SDGs) to the president, paid N147.1 million to an account traced to Enseno Global Ventures (Enseno GV), an Abuja-based restaurant, for the construction of a classroom.
Coalition for Whistleblowers Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) has issued a statement about the reported arrest and continued detention of Mr Daniel Ojukwu, “We call on the Nigerian police to immediately release Mr. Daniel Ojukwu and follow legal procedures to engage him.”
Amnesty International in Nigeria, “Journalist Daniel Ojukwu is still unlawfully detained by the Nigerian Police — denied access to lawyer and family. This draconian trend sends the wrong signal and forces journalists to live in perpetual fear for daring to investigate and report on issues of major public interest.
Apart from creating a climate of fear across newsrooms in Nigeria, arbitrarily detaining journalists is also gradually having the chilling effect of preventing people from freely expressing themselves. This is unacceptable.”
Social-Econmic Rights & Accountability Project (SERAP) issued a reminder stating: “The ECOWAS Court has ruled that section 24 of the Cybercrime Act is arbitrary and illegal. The Tinubu administration must immediately and unconditionally release Daniel Ojukwu who is detained solely for doing his job.
FreeDanielOjukwu @officialABAT @UNHumanRights.”
BudgIT, a Nigerian organisation promoting transparency and accountability, has also demanded the immediate release of Daniel Ojukwu, the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) journalist abducted by the police.