After spending fourteen days at the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) facility in Abuja, the detained Editor of FirstNews, Mr Segun Olatunji, finally regained his freedom Wednesday night.
Before now, Olatunji was kept incommunicado with family and colleagues having no clue of his whereabouts until he was released to some media stakeholders, including Yomi Odunuga of The Nation newspaper and General Secretary of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Iyobosa Uwugiaren, also of THISDAY Newspaper in Abuja.
Olatunji, who was abducted and whisked away in a commando style from his Iyana Odo Abule Egba home in Lagos by a group of military men March 15, said he was tortured by his captors for writing a story against the defence chief.
Worried by the unjust abduction, his colleagues and media coalitions under the aegis of International Press Institute (IPI), the NGE, and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) swung into action, pleading with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to wade into the matter by ordering the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, to produce the embattled editor.
…My ordeal – Olatunji
Recounting his ordeal at a press conference jointly organized by the IPI, NGE and the NUJ at the FCT council of the NUJ in Abuja, Olatunji commended his colleagues, family, relatives, employer and the media coalition for their solidarity while the travails lasted.
“My ordeal in the hands of the abductor is the handiwork of the people within the corridor of power in the country. After tracing me to my home, they arrested and whisked me away. They handcuffed me and tightened my legs with chains which made my body become dumb,” he said.
“They first told me that I was one of those abusing the Chief of Defence Intelligence (Major General Emmanuel Undiandeye). They did not say much about that,” he said, adding they also interrogated him on a story FirstNews did around Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to the President.
“After that, they started asking me about a certain story and made me write a statement. Just yesterday (Wednesday), they told me to call someone in Abuja to guarantee my release and I called Mr Yomi, asking him to meet us around ECOWAS Secretariat and I was let off under a bridge where they (Yomi and others picked me up),” Olatunji said
On the first day of his arrest, he said: “Someone came claiming to be from the military. He identified himself as Colonel Lawal. Immediately, he seized my phones.
“I went to the room to dress up. By the time I got downstairs, I saw soldiers inside the compound taking positions. Outside the gate, I saw about three vehicles with Air Force personnel, Army, Defence Intelligence Agency, and others all fully armed.
“I was handcuffed and taken straight to the office of the National Air Defence Corps where we waited for three hours. I did not know that they were waiting for an aircraft to pick me up to Abuja.”
Continuing, the editor said: “When the aircraft landed, I was blindfolded and moved to the aircraft, and we landed in Abuja shortly. I was leg cuffed also. They removed my clothes and I was left with my boxers. I was taken to Cell 9.
“There, I was left with leg and handcuffs. And at a point, one of the officers came and tightened the right leg and the right hand, and I was there groaning in pain. They did not loosen it until about two or three days after. Up till now, I could still feel the pains in my hands and legs.”
…NGE slams military
Also speaking, the NGE scribe described the DIA’s action as a direct attack on press freedom.
He commended the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris and the National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, for their interventions.
The NGE scribe however, raised some words of caution: “If the press is not allowed to carry out its social and constitutional responsibilities but instead obligated to power, it simply serves as an extension of power. Without freedom of the press, our democracy is endangered.
“Despite spirited efforts to locate the whereabouts of Olatunji and repeated inquiries, the military denied having the journalist in their custody.
“Although our colleague has now been released, we are calling on President Tinubu to ensure that these officers are punished for their bad behavior. By all standards, the action of General Musa and Major General Undiandeye are against the provisions of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution and other international instruments to which Nigeria is a signatory, which forbid the detention of any citizen or resident beyond 48 hours, except with a valid court order,”
