Segun Olatunji has been released by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
He was released to the General Secretary of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Iyobosa Uwugiaren and the Deputy Editor (Nation’s Capital) of The Nation Newspapers, Yomi Odunuga under a bridge in Asokoro.
Nigerian chapter of the International Press Institute (IPI) had reported earlier the missing editor of FirstNews, is in the custody of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
The IPI said Mohammed Idris, minister of information and National Orientation, revealed that top military officers have admitted that their men seized Segun Olatunji
Idris reportedly disclosed this to officials of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Nigerian Guild of Editors and the International Press Institute on Wednesday night.
He said the DIA had now committed to releasing the journalist on Thursday.
Many groups, including the NUJ, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, and IPI Nigeria, have called for the release of the editor.
Nigerians, including the Civil Society Organisation CSO, had while expressing concerns over the silence Security agencies’ silence worrisome, unhealthy.
Awal Ibrahim ( Rafsanjani), Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center CISLAC, while speaking with BusinessDay on the issue on Wednesday, in Abuja, decried the rate of insecurity and the rate at which Nigerians are being abducted daily by non- state actors.
The First News Editor was whisked away by men who identified themselves as officers with the army, from his Alagbado, Lagos home on March 15,2024.
” On March 15, around 15 armed men in two unmarked vans arrived at Olatunji’s home in Alagbado, a community in Nigeria’s western Lagos state.
“The men, two of whom wore military-style uniforms, introduced themselves as officers of the Nigerian army and forced Olatunji to come with them without explanation”, according to Olatunji’s wife, Abiodun Oluwakemi.
Several efforts to get reactions from the Military had proved abortive as they refused to respond to enquiries and WhatsApp messages on the issue.
Ibrahim called on the Military to ” charge him to court if they feel they have a case, rather than keep him in their custody
” The silence is not good for the Military. If they also join in abducting people, just the way non- state actors kidnap Nigerians at will, then, where will the common man run to? ”
The IPI, in their statement disclosed that ” Multiple checks by IPI Nigeria reveal that Mr. Olatunji is in the custody of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), an agency under the command of Major General Emmanuel Undiandeye, who, in turn, reports to the Chief of Defence Staff, General Musa,”
