After demonstrations by various civil society organisations in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, Daniel Ojukwu, a journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) who was kidnapped by the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team, has been released.
After being held captive by police for ten days, Ojukwu was released on Friday.
The FIJ announced this on its website on Friday.
Ojukwu was said to have gone missing on Wednesday, May 1. His numbers were switched off, and his whereabouts were unknown to colleagues, family, and friends.
Twenty-four hours after Ojukwu went missing, FIJ filed a missing person complaint at police stations in the area where he was headed.
Furthermore, a FIJ-hired detective traced the last active position of the journalist’s phones to an address in Isheri Olofin, which the FIJ now believes is where the police first picked him up.
Ojukwu’s family later learned of his imprisonment at Panti, where they were informed that authorities were charging him with violating the 2015 Cybercrime Act.
Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team transferred him to the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre in Abuja.
The police imposed rigorous bail terms on the FIJ’s lawyers and negotiators, led by Omoyele Sowore, publisher of SaharaReporters; Jide Oyekunle, chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists’ FCT Correspondent’s Chapel; and Bukky Shonibare, chairman of the FIJ Board of Trustees.
On Thursday, various civil society organizations and media stormed the Force Headquarters in Abuja, demanding Ojukwu’s release.
Protesters include Deji Adeyanju, a lawyer; Sowore, a pro-democracy activist and presidential candidate for the African Action Congress in the 2023 general elections; and others.
Protesters carried banners with the phrases ‘Free Daniel Ojukwu,’ ‘No to a police state,’ ‘Journalism is not a crime,’ and ‘Stop the impunity.’
However, as civil society organizations marched to the Force Headquarters on Thursday to demand his release, the police began to soften their stance, and he was eventually released on Friday.
“Daniel Ojukwu’s case is one of the most egregious cases of human rights violations and misuse of the powers of the police against journalists,” said Abimbola Ojenike, Managing Partner of Slingstone LP, FIJ’s attorneys.
“This will not go unchallenged. There’s a significant public interest in Daniel’s human rights enforcement action that goes beyond just this violation.
“The constitutional right to free speech is dead if journalists can no longer expose the malfeasance of government officials without fear or oppression.”
