When, two weeks ago, I began seeing some stories online detailing the ‘real’ reasons the former Editor of First News Media, Mr. Segun Olatunji, was abducted by some hooded state security officers from his home in Lagos, flown on military aircraft to Abuja, tortured for 14 days and later released following the outcry by his family, employers and professional bodies, I knew that that was the beginning of the end to the whole saga. When you have spent close to three decades on this job, certain things should not surprise you.
With the exclusivity being claimed in the online publications coupled with the ‘dependable’ sources quoted, I knew Olatunji would soon be left out in the sun to dry.
Somehow, his tortuous journey and lonely nights in the dark alleys for daring to write an unverifiable story about a big man in power would be justified and the rest of us would be compelled to accept the fact that the unfortunate incident was one of the hazards of the profession. Somehow, we would be made to understand that the Olatunji unfortunate incident shouldn’t be enough reason to dissuade those who are genuinely interested in making the men of power to walk their talk and be accountable to the people. As long as facts remain sacred, the journalism profession, we would be enlightened, is not under any threat especially with the ‘professional’ way the Segun Olatunji case has been handled by all the stakeholders. For me, that appears to be the game plan.
Now, what exactly is the news behind the news? Here it is in the simplest language possible. The DIA, at an April 14 meeting with representatives of key media organizations including Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Nigeria Press Organization (NPO), Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) and the International Press Institute (IPI, Nigeria), justified the Gestapo-style abduction and criminalization of Olatunji, saying it was done to “forestall a potential threat to national security.” But what exactly was the story that could have set the nation ablaze? Throwing more light on the hidden facts, an online medium quoting sources at the DIA, said Olatunji’s story titled ‘How Gbajabiamila attempted to corner $30bn, 66 houses that Special Investigator traced to Sabiu’ was a potential threat to national security because it was not only false but it was discovered that some persons procured Olatunji to write and disseminate the story to some of his online colleagues, presumably to impugn the integrity of the revered Chief of Staff to the President.
The publications stated that during interrogations, Olatunji did not only confess to the crime but evidence extracted from his seized phones by the security agency (without any court order) pointed to the fact that one Rotimi Williams supplied Olatunji with the information and paid him a lump sum of N170,000 to enable him distribute the story to his colleagues.
I must confess that, at this stage, I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh this off as a rude joke. My people say if a man must eat a frog, let him eat the one with eggs. With his decades of exposure in this profession and his level of education, I find it utterly demeaning that Olatunji could easily be bought with such an amount to pen such kindergarten fable about the former Speaker of the House of Representatives and a serial member of that House to boot. In fact, when I first read the Gbajabiamila story, the first thing I did was to check the entire budget of the nation and I discovered that it was not even up to $30bn in naira, So, how could anyone with a scintilla of sense link just one man to a $30bn heist in one fell swoop? The story didn’t just make any sense and I didn’t hesitate to tell the person that published it to check his facts and figures before hurrying to copy-paste. Even if Gbajabiamila were to be Nigeria’s President, I doubt if he could muster the brazenness to divert such amount to his private accounts and go scot free. But then, what do I know? On this job, I have come across people who, with eyes wide open, walk into troubled waters just because they rely on fake documents supplied by desperate ‘sources’ to pen damaging stories about respected members in the society. Some don’t even do it for the love of lucre. Sometimes, their blind and bland patriotism to expose the grand larcenies that go on daily in our warped system tempts them into publishing falsehood. While I am not saying this could be the reason behind the haste with which Olatunji penned the story, I am still trying to understand why there was a complete lack of circumspection and intuitive reasoning in pushing those figures out. It is my belief that any Editor worth that name ought to have done better. Philip L. Graham who was President and Publisher of the Washington Post once said that “Journalism is the first rough draft of history”; we must first weigh the consequences of what we write about others. That is never in doubt. But this is not where I am going.
In an earlier piece titled ‘Segun Olatunji’s abduction and the loud silence in high places’, I had raised certain questions and they still remain relevant today: “I am still trying to figure out the real motive behind Olatunji’s abduction and under whose authority the operation was carried out. It is even more confounding that this matter happened under a democratic system that has lasted for over 24 years and still waxing stronger despite some challenges. In fact, members of the pen community and other well-meaning Nigerians should be concerned that a matter that could have been resolved amicably with an official invitation to Olatunji became what the aggrieved big guns in the Office of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) handled in such a despicable Gestapo style. More troubling was the fact that, after the Nigerian Press raised the alarm on the whisking away of one of their own, those who did it for whatever reason were not courageous enough to honestly admit that the journalist was in their arbitrarily-enforced custody. Perhaps, they considered the outcry as the rants of bloody civilians that amount to nothing in Nigeria’s delicate power maze.
In this matter, silence is not golden. Today, it is Segun Olatunji. With this conspiracy of loud silence, it could be another innocent citizen tomorrow if we allow this banditry mentality to thrive under this democracy of ours. And so, we ask again, who will take full responsibility for the abduction of citizen Segun Olatunji? After rummaging through his phones without a court order and without his permission, and after turning his house upside down, is his life safe amidst this criminal silence by the state?” I asked then.
In a veiled response to some of these questions, the DIA was quick to justify its power under the law to arrest, detain and force information out of any citizen at the instance of any man of power. The DIA reportedly told the media gurus at the April 14 mediatory meeting that, as regards the treatment meted out to Segun Olatunji, following a directive given by the powerful man in Aso Rock that the security authorities should fish out those behind the story, the operation was justified as it was derived from one of its powers to wit: “to execute ANY OTHER TASKS that may be assigned to it by higher superior authority in defence of the Federal Government or any of its agents.” And so, the DIA said its findings from the 14-day incarceration and torture, both mentally and physically, of citizen Olatunji did not only find him guilty of “cybercrime, cyber bullying and cyber defamation of character of a government official,” he had equally written a letter of apology through his employers to the Chief of Staff. Wonderful!
I guess, with this, the matter ought to have been resolved amicably, isn’t it? Not really, the Management of First News Media issued an unreserved apology to Gbajabiamila for publishing a news item containing “falsehoods and fabricated stories handed out to us as facts by a misleading source which was highly negligent on our part.” Of course, Olatunji, the man at the middle of the furore, has also resigned with immediate effect from First News Media, claiming that the management had told him that, instead of going through prolonged court case, it would be better to rest the matter and allow sleeping dogs lie. Of course, there is that small matter that we normally shy away from discussing in the public. How, for example, has Olatunji been surviving in the last one year without being paid salary by his employer, the First News Media management? Anyway, this is not my business.
Now, with the apology, I assume everyone can move on. After all, there was no need to pay the supreme price through the activities of unknown gunmen. No one has been thrown under the bus to the best of my knowledge. Or is there? The DIA and the authorities are saying that the operation was carried out in the interest of the state and in accordance with the extant laws and unwritten codes. Although the media gurus are said to have insisted that the authorities ought to have followed due process by either reporting Olatunji to the Ombudsman for adjudication; file a report to the police to invite him for questioning or even, invite him for a friendly chat instead of what they described as “barbaric and brazen disregard for the constitution and the government obligations under relevant domestic laws and international instruments.”
It appears this may not go very far. With the way things go here, constant streams of a menagerie of bad news, economic hardship, scandals, tragedies and other contending news headlines rapidly displace one another in quick succession so, our focus would soon move to other things like the Rivers State’s show of absurdities and gutter drama or the ongoing controversies over cyber security levy and other challenges confronting citizens.
That’s the way we roll here. Soon, people would tell Olatunji to thank his God for being alive, for the divine benevolence and the help extended to him by media organizations, the Information Minister and others whose timely intervention ensured that his case did not end up like that of Bagauda Kaltho, a journalist who disappeared during the Abacha era, only for police to ascribe the corpse found in a mysterious bomb blast at Durbar Hotel, Kaduna as his. Till today, Bagauda’s family and concerned members of the public are yet to have a closure on the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and death but we seem to have moved on as usual. We always do anyway.
Just the other day, a journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, Daniel Ojukwu, was arrested and detained by the State Criminal Investigation Department in Lagos. Since May 1, he has been with the authorities. His arrest was said to be at the instance of the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) for alleged cybercrime. His employers say he was “held incommunicado for three days with no access to legal representation” and, up till now, the police have kept mute over the matter. In Ojukwu’s case, I have gone through the story that allegedly put him in harm’s way and I didn’t see any justification for his detention. It was a well-researched piece on utterly shady contract award by one of the Federal agencies that gave a restaurant multimillion Naira construction contract said to have ended up being partly done in a privately-owned school rather than a public primary school that it was originally intended for.
During the week, a group of human rights activists led by Omoyele Sowore stormed the police complex to demand Ojukwu’s release or, at least, access to his lawyers and respect for his fundamental human rights as enshrined in the constitution. Yet, there remains a thunderous silence in high places. But then, maybe those who detained him have gone through his phones unlawfully as usual, and detected something different. Who knows? Let’s just move on as we wait for the next arrest by those who think they have the mandate to operate outside of the law without any consequences whatsoever. One thing is sure: Where power speaks louder than the truth, circumspection should be the watchword. Enough said.
