Police Detain Journalists Over Report Exposing Kwara Poly’s Uncompleted Projects

• The Kwara Polytechnic held its 29th convocation ceremony in November 2023.

• The ceremony featured the commissioning of some projects on the polytechnic’s campus.

• However, a Kwara-based online publication found some of the projects to be uncompleted, drawing the ire of the institution’s management.

Eko Hot Blog reports that the Kwara State Police Command has detained two journalists with Informant247, a Kwara-based online publication, Salihu Ayatullahi and Adisa-Jaji Azeez.

Ayatullahi, the publication’s Editor-in-Chief and Azeez, its Managing Editor, were detained in Ilorin on Tuesday after honouring a police invitation.

Eko Hot Blog gathered that the journalists were arrested at the behest of the Rector of Kwara State Polytechnic, Engr. Abdul Jimoh Muhammed, who took offence to a series of reports on his institution.

Trouble began in November 2023 when The Informant247 published a three-part report detailing how Muhammed led the inauguration of uncompleted projects at the polytechnic.

The publication reported that the remodeling of a library “appears to be nothing more than a superficial facelift hastily covered in a fresh coat of paint.”

Rector of Kwara State Polytechnic, Engr. Abdul Jimoh Muhammed

It further reported that, upon closer inspection, it became evident that the building lacked the comprehensive facilities mentioned in an official statement.

The Informannt247 alleged that most of the projects commissioned at the Kwara Polytechnic’s convocation ceremony were much less glamorous than the rector claimed them to be.

Last week, the publication released another report that alleged that the Kwara Polytechnic rector made false claims about the institution’s financial status.

The polytechnic subsequently released a statement denying the allegations.

However, The Informannt247 stood by its report, prompting the online publication to challenge the institution to present its financial statements for 2021, 2022, and 2023, which a Kwara Polytechnic spokesperson claimed do not tally with the ones the publication quoted in a new report.

The publication hinted that more reports on “major corruption” at the polytechnic, which include but not limited to back-door recruitment, extortion, and the selling of certificates by institution officials were forthcoming.

Part of the walkway project on the campus left undone on November 9, 2023 (Photo: The Informant247)

Following the latest report, Engr. Muhammed petitioned the police to arrest The Informant247’s top journalists.

The police invited them on Tuesday and subsequently detained them in alleged violation of a court process.

Eko Hot Blog gathered that Ayatullahi and Azeez had approached the Federal High Court seeking protection of their fundamental human right to press freedom and liberty.

An advance copy of the process marked as Case No. FHC/IL/C5/14/2024 was served on the Kwara State Police Command, including the Commissioner of Police, Kwara State, CP Victor Olaiya, Officer in Charge of Anti-Kidnapping Section, and Rector of Kwara State Polytechnic, as first, second, and third respondents respectively in the mentioned case.

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