On Thursday, colleagues of Mr. Segun Olatunji, the abducted Editor of FirstNews, disclosed the sequence of events leading to his abduction from his Lagos residence, where he was reportedly taken away and subjected to alleged torture by the military due to a story concerning the Defence Chief.

Olatunji, a former Kaduna State correspondent of The PUNCH, was abducted by men in military uniform from his home in the Iyana Odo, Abule Egba area of Lagos State.

The PUNCH earlier reported that military authorities, on Thursday, yielded to pressure and released Olatunji, who was abducted from his home on Friday, March 15, 2024.

He was released to some media stakeholders, including Yomi Odunuga of The Nation newspaper and Iyobosa Uwugiaren of Thisday Newspaper in Abuja on Thursday after sustained pressure from the media.

Before his release, the International Press Institute, the Nigeria Guild of Editors, and Olatunji’s employers had in separate statements, faulted his incarceration, asking authorities to either release the editor or charge him to court.

But Olatunji’s colleagues, under the umbrellas of the International Press Institute, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, and the Nigeria Union of Journalists, linked the journalist’s abduction to a story published by FirstNews titled, “Revealed: Defence Chief running office like family business – Public Interest Lawyers.”

Addressing a press conference at the secretariat of the FCT Council of NUJ, Utako, Abuja, the Secretary, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Iyobosa Uwugiaren, said despite spirited efforts to locate the whereabouts of Olatunji and repeated inquiries, the military denied having the journalist in their custody.

He said, “However, on Monday, IPI Nigeria was able to determine (without doubt) that the journalist was being detained and tortured by the Defence Intelligence Agency in Abuja. The IPI then informed the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa and the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major General Emmanuel Undiandeye, of its finding and asked them to release our colleague immediately.

“We also provided that information to top government officials who also reached out to Generals Musa and Undiandeye. Again, they lied that the journalist was not in their custody. Yet our sources were telling us we needed to act fast to save our colleague from being killed.

“That was what culminated in the IPI Nigeria’s press statement of Wednesday, which clearly accused the DIA of abducting and detaining Mr Olatunji. Once that statement circulated in the media, the anti-democratic officers became jittery. They became even more confused after they became aware that the NGE, the NUJ, and the IPI had scheduled a follow-up press conference for this morning. Knowing the game was up, they admitted their crime last night. They confessed to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, that our colleague was in their custody and that they would release him immediately.

“The DIA’s action makes us wonder about its real intention. Our suspicion is that they planned to secretly eliminate Mr Olatunji so that members of the public could attribute his disappearance to unknown gunmen. But we are glad they failed.”

He, however, urged President Bola Tinubu to wade into the matter and ensure justice is done in the case, adding that “the Nigerian media community shall consult further in the next few days on the actions to take against the CDS, the CDI, and the military regarding this matter”.

“More so, the DIA’s action is a direct attack on press freedom. One of the core missions of the free press is to serve as a watchdog on power.”