The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) intends to arrest ‘Fisayo Soyombo, founder and editor-in-chief of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), in an inter-agency collaboration that will also include the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Nigerian military, FIJ has been warned.
According to a security source who was speaking with FIJ on Sunday night, the ongoing plot is in relation to the motion adopted by the House of Representatives to probe the complicity of Customs in smuggling — something Soyombo spent months writing on social media ever since February when FIJ released his undercover investigation and subsequent documentary implicating Customs in smuggling.
“They are cooking something on you… or should I say for you,” said the source.
“The plan is to lure you into a meeting using ‘plans to reform the agency’ or ‘plans to return sanctity to the agency’, then proceed to actually arrest you.
“You will be required to provide evidence on your every claim about Customs and smuggling, else you will be incarcerated just like Dele Farotimi.”
FIJ considers these claims plausible, given Soyombo’s openness to solutions-oriented engagements on his investigations. In October, for example, he honoured the invitation of Olubunmi Ojo, the interior minister, to “a roundtable conversation on shaping the ongoing reforms” in prisons.
“They do not mean well for you at all. This time around, they are all out for you,” the source continued. “They are planning to move as swiftly as possible. They have impunity, and trust Nigerians to be docile.”
When FIJ asked if the specific agencies could be named, the source responded: “Customs, police, military, politicians.”
And asked if this was coming from the headquarters of Customs or from Ogun State, which has been the focus of Soyombo’s investigations, the security source said: “Definitely from the headquarters, with how confident they are to forge ahead with the plans.
“There is a big federal power at play. Also, beware of whom you discuss your movements to. If they are unable to track you down, then they will try and get to you through your acquaintances.”
This is not the first time Nigerian security agencies have hatched arrest plans against Soyombo.
In September, the Department of State Services (DSS) planned to arrest him, but this was foiled after it became a media item.
Earlier, in August, the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) detained him after he honoured their invitation.
And, in November, he was arrested by the Nigerian army at the site of an undercover investigation of illegal oil bunkering in Port Harcourt.
