Another Journalists abducted in Nigeria, sparking fears of police crackdown
By Chibuzo Ihegboro
Men of the Nigeria Police on Wednesday abducted the editor of an online newspaper, Global Upfront, Madu Onuorah.
The Publisher and Editor-in-Chief was whisked away by men of the Nigerian Police Force at about 6pm.
Two Nigerian journalists has being abducted by the Nigerian police in recent times, Daniel Ojukwu, an FIJ reporter, was abducted on May 1, 2024, and was held incommunicado for several days before being released on May 10, 2024.
Segun Olatunji, the General Editor of First News, was abducted on March 15, 2024, and was released after about three weeks.
According to Punch, about 10 fully-armed policemen stormed his residence in Lugbe, Abuja, in two Sienna buses.
He was arrested in the presence of his wife and children who, fruitlessly demanded from the police why they were arresting the head of the family.
The police have seized Mr. Onuorah’s phones, thereby completely cutting him off from communication with people, including his family members.
He was not allowed to contact his lawyer or any of his relations before he was whisked away to the Lugbe police station by the stern looking operatives.
To make sure Mr. Onuorah did not get attention or bail, the policemen who arrested him, though not of the Lugbe Police Station, simply dumped him at the Station and left no traces for friends and family members to reach them.
Reacting to the arrest, the management of Globalupfront Newspapers, asked the police to immediately and unconditionally free Mr. Madu Onuorah.
Onuorah, who has worked in reputable newspapers such as being the former Abuja Bureau Chief of The Guardian Newspaper, former Managing-Director of The AUTHORITY Newspaper, has been operating operates within the ambit of the law.
Anybody who has any issue against Mr. Onuorah should approach the law court and not turn the Nigerian Police into a Gestapo outfit that bullies a man in the presence of his wife and children,” the newspapers said in a statement made available to journalists on Thursday in Abuja.
“That any second Mr. Onuorah spends in police custody constitutes a serious infringement against his fundamental rights and a continuation of the assault on freedom of expression that has become frequent occurrence in Nigeria recently,” the paper noted.