Police arrest FIJ reporter Daniel Ojukwu

A journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), Daniel Ojukwu, has been arrested by the Police.

FIJ in a report said Ojukwu was arrested by the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun.

According to the report, the journalist is currently being held at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti in Lagos state.

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“Ojukwu went missing on Wednesday, May 1, his numbers switched off and his whereabouts unknown to both colleagues, family and friends,” FIJ said.

FIJ said on Thursday, it initially made the report of a missing person at police stations in the area where Ojukwu was headed.

The media outlet stated that on Friday, a private detective it hired tracked the last active location of the reporter’s phones to an address in Isheri Olofin which FIJ now believes was where the police originally abducted him.

“Ojukwu’s family would subsequently get wind of his detention at Panti, where they were made to understand the authorities are accusing him of violating the 2015 Cybercrime Act,” it said.

“A relative who visited him told FIJ that the authorities declined to provide contact details of the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) on jurisdictional grounds as the case was beyond Lagos.

“The arresting officers are part of the IG Monitoring Team. They said when they are done arresting the other people on their watchlist in Lagos, they would transfer him and others to Abuja.”