The Nigerian military is currently under fire for what many have described as a clamp down on press freedom.
What’s happening?
On the morning of Friday, November 29, the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) made a post on its X account, announcing that its founder, Fisayo Soyombo, had been detained by the 6 Division of the Nigerian military in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for the past three days.
The tweet, which was posted with the hashtag #FreeFisayoNow, immediately began to trend, with many Nigerians, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), journalists, and media houses calling on the military to ensure he is released without any harm.
Who is Fisayo Soyombo?
Fisayo is a Nigerian investigative journalist known for exposing different forms of misconduct and corruption in the country through undercover investigative journalism.
Some of his investigations include a 2016 investigative series on the sufferings of soldiers who were abandoned by the government after fighting Boko Haram– after this series was released, Soyombo was accused by the Nigerian Military at the time of subversion, “a systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system by people working from within.”
In 2019, he spent two weeks undercover as an inmate and suspect at Ikoyi Prison and Pedro Police Station to uncover misconduct and corruption in the Nigerian criminal justice system. This was not received well by the authorities either, as he was allegedly almost arrested by the Nigerian Immigration Service.
In February 2024, Soyombo went undercover as a smuggler at Nigeria’s borders and exposed corruption in the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), mostly perpetrated by customs “bosses who betrayed patrol teams by updating smugglers on their colleagues’ itinerary and the days and times when the roads were free.”
Soyombo also followed up his recent investigation with a digital campaign involving a series of tweets in which he called out the corruption in the NCS and demanded that its corrupt officers be brought to justice.
In September 2024, FIJ published a feature alleging that the DSS was planning to arrest Soyombo for reasons unknown to them. His current arrest is coming three months after this feature.
Why did the military arrest him?
A few hours after the hashtag #FreeFisayoNow started trending on X, the Nigerian army released a statement on its account, confirming that it had arrested Soyombo.
According to the statement, Soyombo was arrested at an illegal oil bunkering site along with other people on suspicions of illegal bunkering and is currently “undergoing preliminary investigations to determine their level of involvement in the illegal activities.”
“His arrest is directly linked to the ongoing anti-oil theft operations in the region, and any claims suggesting otherwise are baseless,” the statement said in part.
How are people reacting to the military’s statement?
Nigerians on X have poked holes in the statement released by the military with different arguments, all of which insist that his arrest is linked to his work as an investigative journalist.
What’s the update?
About five hours after the Nigerian Military released a statement confirming the arrest of Fisayo Soyombo, his media organisation, FIJ, put out a tweet saying he’s been released “following intense media campaign” mounted by Nigerians.
The arrest and intimidation of journalists is not an uncommon thing in Nigeria. A recent report by Reporters Without Borders classifies Nigeria as “one of West Africa’s most dangerous and difficult countries for journalists, who are regularly monitored, attacked and arbitrarily arrested.”
