Some police officers attached to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Monitoring Unit, Lagos Annex, on Monday, arrested a journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), Sodeeq Atanda, after allegedly detaining his wife and nine-month-old child to lure him out.
FIJ’s founder and editor-in-chief, Fisayo Soyombo, confirmed the arrest to PREMIUM TIMES on Monday evening.
“They released the wife and the child and arrested Sodeeq. They handcuffed him. The wife confirmed this to me at 8:24 p.m.,” Mr Soyombo said.
FIJ reported that the officers first arrested Mr Atanda’s wife and infant at their home, detained them for hours at the Owutu Police Station in Ikorodu, Lagos, and allegedly coerced the wife into calling her husband to falsely claim that their child was ill and hospitalised.
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According to the wife, the officers later drove her and the baby to a street near their home and waited until Mr Atanda arrived.
“When they realised my husband was no longer far from the house, the policemen drove me and my baby to a street not far from our home,” she said. “And when they saw him, they handcuffed him and took him away. That was when they released my baby and me.”
She said the journalist was taken to the Force Headquarters, Obalende, Lagos.
As of the time of filing this report, the IGP Monitoring Unit had not issued any statement on the arrest. PREMIUM TIMES also called the Lagos State Police Command spokesperson, Abimbola Adebisi, but she did not answer her call.
This came just a day after President Bola Tinubu urged government institutions and officials to emulate the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Oluwatosin Ajayi, who recently won recognition as a champion of press freedom by the Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI).
Incidentally, the IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, was among those blacklisted by the IPI Nigeria’, due to incessant harassment of journalists by the police, while Mr Ajayi was commended for his commitment to press freedom and respect for journalists and media organisations.
Disputed police invitation
The arrest followed a police invitation sent to Mr Atanda on 26 November by a person who identified himself as “Omo Eleniyan,” claiming to be attached to the IGP Monitoring Unit, Lagos Annex.
In a WhatsApp message seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the sender wrote: “I’m a police officer attached to IGP Monitoring Unit Lagos Annex… An approved petition was referred to my department from the office of the inspector general of police for further investigation.”
Mr Atanda responded by requesting that the invitation be formally sent to FIJ’s official email address. However, the sender replied: “The invitation Is [sic] for you not [sic] for the organisers [sic].”
When Mr Atanda explained that he worked for FIJ and that such correspondence should go through the organisation, the sender replied: “Alright sir. No problem.”
Previous police interrogation
This is not the first time Mr Atanda has been arrested or interrogated by the police.
In September, he was detained and questioned for about 11 hours by the Ekiti State Police Command following petitions by Abayomi Fasina, the on-leave vice-chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE).
The petition accused Mr Atanda of cyberbullying, blackmail and criminal defamation over FIJ’s reports alleging sexual harassment by Mr Fasina against Folasade Adebayo, a director at the university.
Mr Atanda said officers of the State Intelligence Department questioned him extensively about his sources and pressured him to disclose them, a demand he refused, citing journalistic ethics.
“They asked who my sources were and insisted there must be an origin of the information I published,” he said. “I told them I was not obligated to disclose my sources.”
He also alleged that investigators attempted to dictate the contents of his written statement and questioned him over reports not directly related to the petition.
Mr Atanda was eventually released that day following the intervention of the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Eribo, who, according to the journalist, acknowledged that he was only doing his job.
Pattern of arrests
PREMIUM TIMES has documented a growing pattern of harassment and arbitrary arrests targeting Nigerian journalists. Friday Alefia, Lagos-based publisher of Naija News Today, was released after 22 days in detention at Kuje Correctional Centre following delays in meeting stringent bail conditions.
His detention followed allegations by Chinedu Ogah, a member of the House of Representatives representing Ezza South/Ikwo Federal Constituency in Ebonyi State, accusing him of publishing false reports.
Mr Alefia faced five cybercrime charges and remained in custody for two months while attempting to fulfil court-mandated bail requirements.
Rights activists criticised these conditions as unrealistic and “frivolous,” noting the difficulty defendants face in securing senior civil servants as sureties.
Earlier in January, rights activist and AAC presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore similarly rejected bail conditions requiring a Level 17 civil servant, describing them as “unrealistic and frivolous.”
FIJ had reported incidents to include the detention of their reporter, Daniel Ojukwu, who was abducted and held incommunicado for 10 days in May 2024 before being transferred to Abuja and released after public outcry.
Other FIJ reporters, including Emmanuel Uti, have also been summoned and detained by police units in Lagos and Abuja. Also, Mr Soyombo, had faced multiple arrests since the organisation’s launch in January 2021.
Rights groups and media advocates have repeatedly raised concerns about the use of police arrests, cybercrime charges, and restrictive bail conditions as tools to intimidate journalists and suppress investigative reporting.
Cybercrime law and media freedom concerns
The Cybercrimes Act and strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) have increasingly been criticised as tools to intimidate journalists and civil society.
In December, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) warned that authorities were exploiting legal loopholes to suppress criticism and limit civic space.
Veteran journalist Richard Akinnola described the Cybercrimes Act as being “weaponised by political leaders,” drawing parallels with the repressive Decree 4 of 1984.
The Centre for Journalism and Innovation Development (CJID) reported a rise in attacks on media practitioners nationwide, with Lagos recording persistent high-severity violations.
SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, warned that arbitrary arrests, digital surveillance, and SLAPP suits pose a serious threat to freedom of expression and democracy.
SERAP and NGE urged governments, security agencies, and lawmakers to release individuals detained solely for exercising their rights, withdraw SLAPP suits, review restrictive laws, including the Cybercrimes Act, protect journalists and human rights defenders, and respect court judgments.
They also appealed to the international community to hold Nigerian authorities accountable for human rights violations.
