HOURS after armed officers of the Nigerian Army invaded the Daily Trust regional office in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, another set of armed soldiers have invaded Abuja headquarters of the newspaper.

A staff of the newspaper who pleaded for anonymity told The ICIR that the armed soldiers packed away computer sets while ordering all members of staff to leave the newsroom.

Earlier in the morning, soldiers who stormed the Maiduguri office of the newspaper arrested its regional editor, Uthman Abubakar and a reporter, Ibrahim Sawab. Their whereabouts are yet unknown.

It was not clear why the soldiers invaded the office. But the newspaper says it may be connected to its lead story on Sunday which focused on military operations in the North-East.

They were also said to have shut the gate of the Maiduguri regional office, after arresting the two editorial staff in sight.

The soldiers had also requested to see Daily Trust’s Political Editor, Hamza Idris, whose byline appeared on the story, a witness said.

A line editor at the paper told The ICIR that some of the soldiers came in plain cloth, and ordered everyone to leave the premises as they started to pack all the computers they could find.

“Though Jonathan administration also mistreated our paper by seizing some of our publications a few months to the election, it never went as bad as shutting down our office,” the source from Daily Trust said.