HUMAN rights organisation, Amnesty International, has condemned the detention of the Executive Director at The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (The ICIR), Dayo Aiyetan, and one of the organisation’s reporters, Nurudeen Akewushola, by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
This was contained in a statement by the organisation via its official X handle on Thursday, May 30.
The statement is in reaction to a nine-hour detention of both ICIR staff members on Tuesday, May 28, by officials of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC).
“Amnesty International condemns the harassment and intimidation of the Executive Director of The International Centre for Investigative (ICIR), Dayo Aiyetan, @dayoaiyetan and reporter Nurudeen Akewushola. They were held by the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre.
“In a brazen violation of due process for hours, lawyers and family could not reach them. The Nigerian authorities must end this pattern of punishing journalists who are dedicated to ending pervasive culture of impunity that allows corrupt practices to go unpunished,” the statement noted.
Aiyetan and Akewushola had honoured an invitation by the Centre on Tuesday and could not be reached until they were released nine hours later.
The ICIR in a statement released Tuesday night had raised concerns over the continued detention, noting that Aiyetan and Akewushola accompanied by the company’s lawyers had been unreachable since 12 pm when they arrived at the centre in Abuja.
The organisation said it gathered that there was likely a sinister move by the police to keep both Aiyetan and Akewushola till the following day or beyond.
In its invitation, the Police claimed it was probing a case of cyberstalking and defamation of character.
The invitation was in connection to an investigative report published by The ICIR titled, “Two former IGPs, senior Police officers accused of bribery in shady land sale of designated Police Barracks.”
Summary of investigation that exposed two former IGPs, other police chiefs
The report revealed that two former Inspectors-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris and Solomon Arase, currently the chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), were accused of receiving N200 million each and a house allocation as incentives for awarding an estate development contract to Corpran International Limited for land originally meant to be used as police barracks.
A former staff member of Corpran International Limited Kalu O. Kalu and a lawyer Francis Mgboh accused both former IGPs of unlawfully approving the contract for the development of the land, which belongs to the Police, without adequate scrutiny, after receiving the bribe.
The allegations currently form a part of ongoing litigation at the Federal High Court in Abuja, and documents obtained by The ICIR, including court affidavits, showed that many other top police officials were also bribed to facilitate the approval of the contract.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.