On May 1, on the bustling streets of Lagos, a chilling incident unfolded as a journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, Daniel Ojukwu, vanished without a trace.
As his phone numbers remained unreachable and his location remained a mystery, concern and dread mounted among Ojukwu’s colleagues, family, and friends.
Fearing the worst, suspicions of Ojukwu’s abduction loomed large, casting a sombre shadow over those who knew him, and highlighting the grave dangers faced by journalists in their relentless pursuit of truth.
On Thursday, May 2, the FIJ made a missing person report at police stations in the area where Ojukwu was headed at the time he went missing.
However, on May 3, a private detective hired by the FIJ tracked the last active location of his phones to an address in Isheri Olofin, a location the organisation believed was where the police originally picked him up.
Ojukwu’s family later learnt that Daniel was being held at Panti, where authorities accused him of violating the 2015 Cybercrime Act.
A relative who visited him disclosed that the authorities declined to provide contact details of the Investigating Police Officer on jurisdictional grounds as the case was beyond Lagos.
“The arresting officers are part of the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Team. They said when they are done arresting the other people on their watch list in Lagos, they would transfer him and others to Abuja,” the relative told the FIJ.
It has been five days since the Intelligence Response Team of the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, whisked Ojukwu away and detained him at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, in Lagos.
Stakeholders demand Ojukwu’s release
On Saturday, a lawyer, Ridwan Oke, in a post, said he met Ojukwu at the SCID and lamented the nonchalance of the police to the fundamental rights of citizens, adding that the incarcerated journalist had some health conditions that needed attention.
He wrote, “We still run a police system that cares less about fundamental rights. He has been detained here (at the SCID) since Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Today (Saturday, May 4, 2024) is the fourth day.
“His mother only found out almost 48 hours later because they started looking at police stations and not because they allowed him to contact his people. Daniel was not allowed to call his lawyers, friends, or relatives to notify them of his arrest.”
The lawyer said the officers gave express instructions not to allow him to reach out to anyone.
Punch