David Hundeyin, an investigative journalist, has said he was aware that if PIDOM was to be tried, the government would declare him as an accomplice in the case.
The Nigeria Police Force declaration has tagged him as an accomplice in the trial of whistle blower Isaac Tamunobifiri, also known as PIDOM.
Hundeyin, speaking in an interview with News Central Television on Wednesday, claimed it was not unrelated to truth-telling in the current administration’s attempt to engage him in a criminal probe to undermine his international refugee status and place him on an Interpol alert list, among other things.
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The journalist further alleged that in 2023, the National Intelligence Agency attempted to abduct him from abroad for exposing the wrongdoings of several key government officials, with the attempts taking place in Ghana and Kenya before he relocated to the United Kingdom for protection.
“There were several attempts by the National Intelligence Agency to abduct me. They also tried to render me stateless. I even tried to change my country twice. There was an attempt to abduct me from Ghana, then I had to move to Kenya; and when they came for me in Kenya, I ran to the United Kingdom.
“This is part of the price that you have to pay when you decide to tell the truth. At the time it wasn’t fashionable to do so, especially a regime that sees truth-telling as an affront or threat to it,” he stressed.
When asked if he knew he was declared an accomplice in PIDOM’s trial, Hundeyin said he had always planned for it, which is why he decided to go public, especially after investigating how the whistleblower X handle reached out to him and the scenarios that led the handler to give him access to the account.
“The attempts by those people to hack my devices, which led to me replacing them, made it clear to me that some things were going on that I didn’t want to be a party to. The educated guess that I had then was that this was probably a state security attempt to rope me into some criminal investigation to discredit my international refugee status and go after political opponent journalists and whistleblowers like myself and PIDOM. It is a thing Nigeria, and other countries are likely to do,” he said.
“And just like I guess, truth to form, they named me a suspect in an ongoing criminal investigation for the purpose of creating a narrative basis possibly to put me on an Interpol notice list which makes it more difficult for me to travel essentially to make the world feel like they are closing in on me. And as you know getting hold of David Hundeyin is one of the most important security priorities of the Nigerian establishment. It doesn’t matter that you have terrorists flaunting ransom on TikTok,” he added.
On the status of PIDOM, Hundeyin alleged that the suspect was sprayed with a toxic substance in FCID detention and had been having extreme difficulty breathing since then, stressing, “He cannot breathe properly; you can hear it in his voice. Clearly, something is wrong with him.”
Recall that Hundeyin and one Michael Alade are Bristol Isaac, aka PIDOMNigeria’s accomplices.
PIDOMNigeria was accused of leaking classified and restricted documents, fraud, sedition, and tax evasion, among others.
Muyiwa Adejobi, the Force Spokesperson, while addressing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday said PIDOM was arrested following a petition from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Adejobi added that when operatives of the National Cybercrime Centre stormed PIDOM’s hotel, he resisted arrest, locked himself up, destroyed his phone, and flushed it down the toilet.
Earlier, PIDOM was remanded in Kuje correctional facility, Abuja.
PIDOM was arraigned on Tuesday on nine counts brought against him by the Inspector General of Police, including alleged money laundering, cybercrime, and disseminating classified secret documents.
Count one read, “That you Bristol Tamunobifiri ‘M’ 41 years of No. 36 Hardy Avenue, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in Nigeria, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court sometime between 2023 and August 2024, accessed the computer network using your X handle @Pidomnigeria with username #99%oppresed to mobilise and solicit support from Nigerians to unduly compel the Federal Government of Nigeria to perform or abstain from performing certain acts through a movement you promoted with the hashtag #Endbadgovernanceinnigeria and you thereby commit an offence punishable under section 18(1) of the cybercrime (prohibition and prevention e.t.c) Act 2015 as amended 2024.”
