Daily Trust, a Nigerian daily, has asked for the immediate release of its editor, Danjuma Lawan Adamu, who has been detained over inappropriate travel documents in Niger Republic since Saturday.

The newspaper said that, Adamu, the Deputy Editor of its Sunday title, has been held in Agadez, Niger Republic, since Saturday while travelling to conduct an investigation on the route used by Nigerian youths to migrate to European countries.

According to Daily Trust, Adamu had contacted the office following his detention, saying that he was arrested by local security operatives allegedly over inappropriate travel documents upon arriving Agadez, a desert town from where migrants travel to Liyba, North Africa before connecting to Europe by sea.

But the journalist is said to have gotten all the necessary documents before traveling, making his arrest baffling.

“I got necessary travel approvals from the Nigerien consulate in Kano, Nigeria and at every checkpoint; I presented them upon request and was allowed to proceed. I had passed up to 10 checkpoints and was cleared accordingly until I approached Agadez,” Adamu told his bosses in the newspaper.

He said, however, that he was arrested because consular official in Kano signed the document authorizing his journey but did not stamp it.

In a statement issued by the newspaper in Abuja on Sunday and signed by Its Executive Director/Editor-in-Chief, Mannir Dan Ali, it called for the immediate release of the editor, saying his continuing detention is a breach of his fundamental human rights.

“We see the arrest as an infringement of his right as an ECOWAS citizen and have since reached the Nigerien authorities to ask for the release of the reporter. We are shocked that more than 24 hours after the arrest, he still is being held and his freedom is being curtailed,” Ali said.

He noted further that Adamu is “an experienced cross border reporter” and that he stated his mission and got the right papers at the Nigerien consulate in Kano before traveling.

“It was the same documentation that he used at different check points including the Nigeria/Niger border post at Kongolom, Katsina state and was only stopped and arrested on reaching Agadez,” Ali pointed out.