Editor of FirstNews Online Newspaper, Segun Olatunji, has recounted what he faced in detention after he was held by the Nigerian Military.
Narrating his experience, Olatunji said that he was first put in a cell where his legs and hands were cuffed.
It would be recalled that gunmen in military uniform kidnapped Olatunji when they invaded his residence at Iyana Odo, Abule Egba area of Lagos state, on March 15.
Speaking at a press briefing organised by the leaderships of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and International Press Institute (IPI), the journalist said he was in chains for about three days.
“At first, they put me in a cell. 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 growing in pain,” he narrated. “And they didn’t loosen it until about two or three days after.”
He also noted that he could still feel the pain on his hands and legs.
Justifying his claim that his abductors were close to the government, he said while he was being detained, “they were asking me questions about certain stories that FirstNews had carried”.
He further noted that he was accused of abusing the chief of defence intelligence (Major General Emmanuel Undiandeye), although nothing much was said about this accusation.
The now released journalist stated that he was asked about a story published in relation to Tinubu’s Chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamilaa, which he described as a “major thing”.
Continuing, he said that was why he told some people earlier that those behind his abduction were people in the corridors of power, “who are not happy with what FirstNews is doing and are bent on taking their own pound of flesh”.
It would be recalled that the IPI, NUJ and NGE had condemned his detention calling it an affront to press freedom.
