The Nigeria Police Force has released Adenike Atanda, wife of an investigative reporter with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), following her reported detention alongside her nine-month-old baby in the Owutu area of Ikorodu, Lagos State.
According to FIJ, Adenike and the infant were released on Monday evening, shortly after police arrested her husband, Sodeeq Atanda, a senior reporter with the organization who was eventually released.
According to the FIJ, Adenike and the infant were transferred to a police station in Owutu and kept for several hours before authorities allegedly urged her to call her husband.
In an account published by FIJ, Adenike said she was instructed to call Atanda and tell him that their child was ill and had been taken to the hospital.
“When they realized my husband was no longer far from the house, the policemen drove me and my baby to a street not far from our home. And when they saw him, they handcuffed him and took him away. That was when they released my baby and me,” she told FIJ.
According to the FIJ, Atanda was promptly brought from the location to the Force Headquarters annex in Obalende, Lagos, where he was detained for many hours before being released shortly before midnight.
The organization related the event to a previous attempt to question Atanda.
According to the FIJ, on November 26, a person identifying as ‘Omo Eleniyan’ contacted the journalist via WhatsApp, claiming to be from the Inspector-General of Police Monitoring Unit at the Force Headquarters.
“I’m a police officer attached to the IGP Monitoring Unit, Lagos Annex. An approved petition was referred to my department from the office of the Inspector-General of Police for further investigation, and your name has been mentioned and alleged. That was why you have been invited, sir. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding,” the message read.
According to FIJ, Atanda reacted by offering the organization’s official email address and requesting that any formal invitations be issued through that channel.
However, the sender reportedly responded, “The invitation is for you, not the organization.”
When Atanda requested that such correspondence go through FIJ, the organization stated that the sender answered, “Alright, sir.” “No problem.”
FIJ further stated that no additional communication was received until Monday evening, when Adenike and the couple’s infant were held.
As of press time, the Lagos State Police Command had not issued a formal statement justifying the incarceration and release of Atanda’s wife and child.
