AfriqueCAN
Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) on Sunday morning arrested the Regional Editor of The Conversation Africa, Adejuwon Soyinka.
He was picked up around 5 am upon his arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
Soyinka’s fellow journalist, Dayo Aiyetan, in an X post, said the former Editor of BBC Pidgin said his colleague was detained by the secret police upon his arrival from the United Kingdom.
Global rights group Amnesty International has since demanded the immediate release of the detained journalist.
“The Nigerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Juwon Soyinka, who was arrested by the Dept. of State Services (DSS) early today at Lagos airport. The manner of his arrest puts him at the risk of torture and other ill treatment,” the group wrote on X.
Also, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) said the current “administration must end the persecution of journalists simply for doing their job”.
“We’re concerned that Soyinka’s arrest is part of a growing crackdown against journalists, whistleblowers and human rights defenders in Nigeria.
“The harassment and intimidation of journalists and whistleblowers shows that the Tinubu administration is intolerant of peaceful dissent. This is entirely incompatible with democratic principles and the rule of law.”
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