>
Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, on Wednesday, abducted the editor-in-chief of an online newspaper, Global Upfront, Madu Onuorah.
Onuorah, who also doubles as the newspaper’s Publisher, was whisked away by security operatives around 6pm in the presence of his wife and children.
It was learnt that about 10 fully-armed policemen stormed his residence in Lugbe, Abuja, in two Sienna buses and took the editor-in-chief without presenting a warrant of arrest, while he has remained incommunicado with his family members, lawyer and his workplace.
A statement signed by the newspaper’s management, dated May 23, 2024 stated that “anybody who has any issue against Mr. Onuorah should approach the law court and not turn the Nigeria Police into a Gestapo outfit that bullies a man in the presence of his wife and children.”
It urged the police to release Onuorah “immediately and unconditionally,” adding that “any second Mr. Onuorah spends in police custody constitutes a serious infringement against his fundamental rights and a continuation of the assault on freedom of expression that has become a frequent occurrence in Nigeria recently.”
The management further noted that the policemen who abducted the newspaper’s EIC were “not of the Lugbe Police Station,” adding that they “simply dumped him at the station and left no traces for friends and family members to reach them.”
“Onuorah is an experienced journalist, a former Abuja Bureau Chief of The Guardian Newspaper, and a former Managing Director of The Authority Newspaper who operates within the ambit of the law,” the statement added.
Onuorah is the third Nigerian journalist to be abducted in Gestapo-like fashion by police operatives in recent times.
Segun Olatunji, the General Editor of an online newspaper, First News, was abducted from his home in Iyana Odo, Abule Egba area of Lagos State on March 15, 2024 and his arrest set panic among the staff members of the news platform.
His wife, Abiodun Olatunji, said the armed men numbering 10 arrived at their residence a few minutes after 6pm and whisked her husband away without leaving any information behind as to where they were taking him.
Olatunji was abducted by operatives of the Defence Intelligence Agency. He was ,however, released on March 28.
Olatunji resigned from his position on May 8, after the news platform’s management apologised to the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, over a story published on its platform on January 29, 2024.
Olatunji’s article indicting the former Speaker of the House of Representatives was entitled “How Gbajabiamila attempted to corner $30bn, 66 houses traced to Sabiu.”
Another journalist, Daniel Ojukwu, who works with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), was abducted by the Intelligence Response Team of the Inspector-General of Police, on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
Ojukwu was accused of violating the 2015 Cybercrime Act and was taken to the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre in Abuja.
He was released on Friday, May 10, 2024 after protests by some Civil Society Organisations in Abuja.