The International Press Centre (IPC) has again expressed fear over the arrest and detention of an investigative journalist, Fisayo Soyombo.
DAILY POST learnt that Soyombo was arrested on Monday after he reported at the national police headquarters.
Apart from Soyombo’s arrest and detention, IPC has also expressed concern over the reported threat on the life of a Vanguard reporter, Ibrahim Hassan-Wuyo.
Wuyo was said to have recently written a petition to the Commissioner of Police, Kaduna State Command, stating that his life was in danger after receiving a threatening phone call on the 11th of December 2021 from the leader of a Non- Governmental Organization (NGO).
The threat to Wuyo’s life, as stated in a press statement made available to DAILY POST on Tuesday in Jalingo, Taraba State by the IPC’s Program Officer/Safety Alert Desk Officer, Melody Lawal, came after he had published a story that emanated from a press statement by a group clamouring for an Igbo Presidency in 2023.
Expressing worry over threats to the lives of journalists, Executive Director of IPC, Lanre Arogundade said, “We are deeply worried about the situation of Hassan-Wuyo and hereby call on the Nigerian government and the security agencies to ensure that he is not harmed in any way.”
He enjoined “anyone who may be aggrieved over the reports of a journalist to seek redress through legal channels” .
”IPC believes the time has come to stop attacks on journalists in Nigeria, so that the country would stop being counted among dangerous zones for journalists to practice across the world.”
Soyombo was said to have been held from morning till late Monday evening when he was granted bail, with his mobile phone seized. He was incommunicado throughout the period he was held by the police.
