As an aftermath of protests by some Civil Society Organisations in Abuja, a journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, Daniel Ojukwu, earlier detained by the Nigerian police has been released.
He was earlier reported abducted by the Intelligence Response Team of the Inspector General of Police.
His release comes ten days after being in police custody.
His employers, Foundation for Investigative Journalism declared this on their website.
Ojukwu was said to have gone missing on Wednesday, May 1, his numbers were switched off and his whereabouts unknown to colleagues, family and friends.
Twenty-four hours after he went missing, FIJ made a missing person report at police stations in the area where Ojukwu was headed.
The FIJ also hired detective tracked the last active location of the journalist’s phones to an address in Isheri Olofin, a location FIJ now believes was where the police originally picked him up.
Ojukwu’s family also got knowledge of his detention at Panti, where it was noted that the authorities were accusing him of violating the 2015 Cybercrime Act.
Daniel was later relocated to Abuja.
The police gave FIJ’s lawyers and negotiators led by the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore; chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists FCT Correspondent’s Chapel Jide Oyekunle; and Bukky Shonibare, chairman of FIJ’s Board of Trustees stringent bail conditions.
In furtherance of demand for his release, some Civil Society Organisations and journalists stormed the Force Headquarters in Abuja to demand the release of Ojukwu.
The protesters include a legal practitioner, Deji Adeyanju; a Pro-democracy activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in the 2023 general elections, Sowore; amongst others.
They were seen carrying inscriptions demanding an end to the Police impunity.
He was eventually released on Friday.
“Daniel Ojukwu’s case is one of the most egregious cases of human rights violation 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 in government officials without fear or oppression.”
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