Police release FIJ journalist Sodeeq Atanda who was lured

The Nigeria Police Force on Monday night released Sodeeq Atanda, a senior investigative reporter with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), hours after officers attached to the Inspector-General of Police Monitoring Unit arrested him in Lagos.

FIJ reported that Mr Atanda was released a few minutes before midnight on Monday.

The President of the International Press Institute (IPI) Nigeria, Musikilu Mojeed, told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday that the journalist was released following the intervention of the institute.

Mr Mojeed who condemned the arrest, said he engaged senior police officials over the matter.

“I was able to convince the police to release the gentleman last night,” Mr Mojeed, who is also the Editor-in-Chief of PREMIUM TIMES, said during a phone interview.

Also, Benjamin Hundeyin, the police spokesperson, stated on Tuesday that the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, ordered Mr Atanda’s immediate release after being informed of his arrest.

Mr Hundeyin disclosed this in a post on his X handle while responding to a post by activist Omoyele Sowore on Monday evening.

He said the IGP was alerted to the arrest after Mr Mojeed contacted him and that the police chief expressed displeasure over the incident.

“I promptly informed the IGP, and he was miffed,” Mr Hundeyin wrote.

According to him, the IGP directed that the head of the unit responsible for the arrest be contacted and ordered to release the journalist immediately, adding that the officer would be sanctioned.

Mr Hundeyin said the IGP would not condone any action capable of undermining the police’s commitment to press freedom.

PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported that police officers attached to the IGP Monitoring Unit, Lagos Annex, arrested Mr 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 this newspaper 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.

According to FIJ, the officers had first arrested Mr Atanda’s wife and infant at their residence and detained them for several hours at the Owutu Police Station in Ikorodu, Lagos.

The organisation alleged that the officers coerced the wife into calling her husband under the pretext that their child was ill and hospitalised.

The journalist’s wife gave a similar account, saying the officers later drove her and the baby to a street close to their home and waited for Mr Atanda to arrive.

“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 Mr Atanda was taken to the Force Headquarters in Obalende, Lagos.

As of the time of filing this report, the Inspector-General of Police Monitoring Unit had not issued any statement on the arrest.

Calls by PREMIUM TIMES to the Lagos State Police Command spokesperson, Abimbola Adebisi, were unanswered.

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 harassments 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 would be 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. I told them I was not obligated to disclose my sources,” he said.

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 former 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.

The organisation 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.