Police abduct another journalist

The Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Globalupfront Newspaper (Online), Madu Onuorah, has been abducted by the police from his house in the Lugbe area of Abuja.

Onuorah’s arrest comes few months after a former Editor of FirstNews, Segun Olatunji, was abducted from his home in Lagos by the military. He was released after about three weeks.

Also an FIJ journalist was picked up by the police and held incommunicado for some days.

He was eventually released on May, after a protest organised by a coalition of Nigerian Civil Society organisations (CSOs) and journalists in Abuja.

The management of the online news platform, in a statement on Thursday, said Onuorah was whisked away at about 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the presence of his wife and children.

He was taken away by “stern looking operatives,” according to the management of the news platform.

It further said Onuorah was neither shown an arrest warrant nor told the reason behind his arrest upon request by the family. He was also denied contact with his lawyer.

“About ten 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 Onuorah’s phones, thereby completely cutting him off from communication with people, including his family members.

“He was not even 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, ” the statement read.

Speaking on the arrest, the Spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, Josephine Adeh, said it was not the command that arrested Onuorah but that of Ebonyi State.

“Yes, but FCT did not arrest him, it was Ebonyi State Police Command, so contact FPRO,” Adeh said.