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Daniel Ojukwu was recently abducted by police officers attached to the IGP’s office.
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He was accused of breaching the Cybercrime Act.
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The police initially seriously resisted calls from national and international bodies to release the journalist.
Eko Hot Blog reports that that the Nigeria Police Force has finally bowed to pressure of releasing Daniel Ojukwu, an FIJ journalist whom police officers recently abducted in Lagos State.
A lawyer close to matter, Ridwan Oke, confirmed the journalist’s release on Friday.
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The human rights lawyer, who noted that journalism is not a crime, said Ojukwu was released Friday afternoon on bail.
“I can confirm that Daniel Ojukwu has now been released on bail,” Oke wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“He regained his freedom a few minutes ago. Once again, Journalism is not a crime. Kudos to everyone who made this happen.”
Recall that reports emerged last Friday, which was incidentally World Press Freedom Day, that operatives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, had abducted Ojukwu on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
The police accused him of breaching the controversial Cyberrime Act and illegally held him for more than a week without charging him to court or obtaining a remand order.
The police prevented the journalist from contacting anyone, including a lawyer, after picking him up last week Wednesday.
The family of the journalist and FIJ management were unaware of his whereabouts until 48 hours after he was declared missing.
The police moved him to the Force Headquarters in Abuja on Sunday and initially resisted the calls to release him.
They allegedly kept changing the bail terms for the release of Ojukwu to deny him freedom.
However, a little over a week after the journalist was abducted, he was set free.
He was detained in connection with a petition written by Muiz Banire, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who served as a commissioner under President Bola Tinubu when he was the Governor of Lagos State.
Banire’s petition concerns the reporter’s report of alleged financial mismanagement in the office of Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SSAP-SDGs).
The report detailed how Orelope-Adefulire, with two weeks left of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure, sent N147.1 million to the account of a restaurant for the construction of classrooms and a skill acquisition centre. The same restaurant has reportedly posed as an engineering company to take N367.46 million from the government.
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The SSAP-SDGs has denied any wrongdoing, but no government agency has announced a probe into the allegations of fraudulent contract award.
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