After being imprisoned for five months for publishing a news story about Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, claiming that he was arrested and convicted in Miami, United States of America in 1986, a journalist, Olamilekan Hammed Adewale Bashiru, has been released.
Bashiru was arrested by DSS operatives in Abeokuta and released, but he was arrested again when he posted about his experience with the secret police on his WhatsApp status.
Mr Festus Ogun, Bashiru’s counsel, confirmed that he was arrested for republishing a report about Abiodun’s “alleged criminal records” in the United States.
According to the article, Abiodun was arrested in the United States in 1986 for credit card fraud and forgery.
The Committee to Protect Journalists had called on Nigerian authorities on May 20, 2022, to “immediately and unconditionally release the journalist who has been arbitrarily detained since May 13, and allow him to work without intimidation.”
“The continued arbitrary detention of Bashiru without charge is a malicious attempt to intimidate the journalist and gag the press, which is totally unacceptable,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York.
