THE Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has sent a whistleblower Isaac Bristol, also known as PIDOM to Kuje prison over money laundering.
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) arraigned Pidom over money laundering, cybercrime, and unlawfully obtaining, retaining, and disseminating classified official secret documents.
He was arranged before a justice, Emeka Nwite on Tuesday, August 3.
After entering a not-guilty plea to the nine-count charge, the judge, Nwite subsequently adjourned the case to September 23, 2024, for the bail application ruling and ordered his remand at the Kuje Correctional Centre.
Recall that PIDOM was arrested on August 5, 2024, in his hotel room in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.
The police confirmed the arrest of PIDOM in a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi on August 24.
Adejobi stated that the Pidom was taken into custody due to accusations of “committing serious offences that undermine the integrity of government operations.”
The arrest of PIDOM has generated concerns among the Nigerian online community, leading to a viral campaign on X.com with users using hashtags such as#FreePIDOM , #PIDOM, and #WhereisPIDOM , among others.
Attacks and harassment of journalists and other citizens by security operatives especially the police using the NPF-NCCC have remained a great concern in Nigeria.
The ICIR reported in December 2023 how security agents abused their power and flouted the Nigerian Constitution by harassing 39 journalists in the line of duty, nationwide.
Four reporters with The ICIR were harassed by state actors in the line of duty that year.
Meanwhile, in 2024, the NPF-NCCC in Abuja invited and detained The ICIR’s executive director, Dayo Aiyetan, and reporter, Nurudeen Akewushola, over an investigation on sleazes in which its former Inspector-Generals were complicit.
The ICIR reported that a reporter, Daniel Ojukwu, was abducted by officials of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun on Wednesday, May 1, two days before World Press Freedom Day.
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) moved Ojukwu to the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Abuja, after spending four days in police custody in Lagos State.
On the orders of the IGP, Ojukwu was transferred by the IRT to the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) in Abuja in the early hours of Sunday, May 5.
He was later released ten days later.
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