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The State Security Service has detained a Nigerian journalist, Adejuwon Soyinka, who is the West African Regional Editor of the Conversation Africa, PREMIUM TIMES reports on Sunday.
Mr Soyinka, a former pioneer editor of the BBC Pidgin Service, was detained by SSS operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos at about 5.40 a.m. on Sunday upon his arrival from the United Kingdom via a Virgin Atlantic flight
As of the time of this report, no reason has been given for his detention by the security agency.
When contacted over the matter, the spokesperson for the SSS, Peter Afunanya, said, “I am not aware of the matter you have raised and have no comments on it, please.”
The award-winning journalist’s colleagues said he has not been reachable as messages and calls to his phone have been unanswered.
Nigerian authorities had recently said that some Nigerians who played roles in the recent #endbadgovernanceyinNigeria protest had been placed on watchlist at the nation’s international airports.
It is unclear if Mr Adejuwon’s arrest is related to that controversial action, although the journalist is not publicly known to have participated in the organisation and execution of the protest.
Several journalists covering the ten-day protest were attacked and brutalised by security agents, including personnel of the SSS.
In one shocking case in Abuja, operatives shot live ammunition at a car carrying some journalists who were on duty at the Moshood Abiola Stadium where peaceful protesters gathered.
Nigeria’s depressing state of press freedom
Nigerian journalists and activists have continuously decried the deteriorating state of press freedom in Nigeria, especially in the last one year under President Bola Tinubu.
More than 100 attacks on journalists have been verified in Nigeria this year, according to the Press Attack Tracker. The attacks on the press and journalists are primarily by state actors with the police accounting for almost 50 per cent of the all harassments faced by journalists in the first half of the year.
The military and the SSS are also prominent culprits, arbitrarily arresting and detaining journalists unlawfully.
Notable cases of harassments, unlawful detention
On 15 March, men in military uniform arrived at the home of Segun Olatunji, then the editor of FirstNews, after forcing his wife to take them to the house. He was subsequently taken without providing reasons or his whereabouts to his family, lawyers and colleagues. The journalist was flown to Abuja where he was held for close to two weeks after which he was released following the intervention of organisations such as the International Press Institute (IPI) Nigeria and the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE).
Like Mr Olatunji, Daniel Ojukwu of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) was ‘abducted’ and detained with his family, lawyers and colleagues unknown of his whereabouts. He was also not allowed to contact anyone for days. By the time his family found him at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Lagos, the police flew him to Abuja. The journalist was held for nine days before he was released on bail.
Since then, many other journalists have faced different forms of harassment including detentions and invitations without genuine reasons.
Other journalists who have faced these harassments include Nurudeen Akewushola and Dayo Aiyetan, both of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), who were detained four hours at the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) over a story they published; Emmanuel Agbo who was invited by the police over a yet-to-be-published story.
