The Nigeria Police Force has released detained reporter of Foundation for Investigative Journalism, identified as Daniel Ojukwu, on Friday.
The reporter’s release came after protesters stormed the force headquarters in Abuja, on Thursday, to demand his release.
It was gathered that Ojukwu regained freedom on Friday after spending 10 days in police captivity.
The just released journalist was said to have gone missing on Wednesday, May 1, when his numbers were switched off and his whereabouts unknown to colleagues, family and friends.
Meanwhile, twenty-four hours after he went missing, FIJ made a missing person report at police stations in the area where Ojukwu was headed.
Further, a media organization reportedly tracked the last active location of the journalist’s phones to an address in Isheri Olofin, a location FIJ now believes was where the police originally picked him up.
Ojukwu’s family subsequently got wind of his detention at Panti, where they were made to understand the authorities were accusing him of violating the 2015 Cybercrime Act.
The police gave FIJ’s lawyers and negotiators led by the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore; chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists FCT Correspondent’s Chapel Jide Oyekunle; and Bukky Shonibare, chairman of FIJ’s Board of Trustees stringent bail conditions.
Recall that on Thursday, some Civil Society Organisations and journalists stormed the Force Headquarters in Abuja to demand the release of Ojukwu.
A banner demanding the release of Daniel Ojukwu during a protest at the Force Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
The protesters include a legal practitioner, Deji Adeyanju; a Pro-democracy activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in the 2023 general elections, Sowore; amongst others.
READ MORE: Protesters Storm Force Headquarters, Demand Release Of Detained FIJ Journalist
Announcing Ojukwu’s released via its website, today, FIJ said: “Daniel Ojukwu, the FIJ reporter who was abducted by men of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Inspector-General of Police, has regained freedom after 10 days in police captivity,” the FIJ wrote on its website about Ojukwu’s release.
“Ojukwu went missing on Wednesday, May 1, his numbers switched off and his whereabouts unknown to colleagues, family and friends.”
