Police in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, raided Peoples Gazette newspaper and arrested John Adenekan, the paper’s assistant managing editor, and four other staff members on Friday.
According to a report published by the paper, police officers forcefully gained entry into its office in search of Samuel Ogundipe, its publisher, and Adefemola Akintade, a reporter.
The report read in part, “John Adenekan, an assistant managing editor, was taken away at about 12:35 p.m. by five armed police officers who broke into the paper’s office opposite NNPC Quarters in Utako.
“The officers returned to the office to arrest four other staff members, Ameedat Adeyemi, Grace Oke, Sammy Ogbu and Justina Tayani.
“The officers declined to state the reason for their assault, but demanded to see Managing Editor Samuel Ogundipe and reporter Adefemola Akintade.
“Both journalists were not available during the operation, prompting the officers to arrest Mr Adenekan in their stead, perpetuating an unconstitutional tradition of arresting associates in the event that people of interest are unavailable.
“Mr Adenekan said he was being taken to the Utako police division following the raid, which comes as the Buhari regime gets increasingly angry with the paper’s brand of journalism.”
When FIJ contacted Josephine Adeh, the spokesperson of the Abuja Police Command, she denied the raid and described it as an invitation.
She said, “There was no raid; we don’t raid in the afternoon. This morning, something happened. I am trying to get the details to find out why those journalists were invited, and would get back to you.
“They were invited this morning. I want to find out the reason why.”
Checks by FIJ to know what story Akintade might have written for the paper to attract police attention yielded minimal results at press time, as his profile indicated he had written about 320 reports since his first byline.
