When a journalist probes the activities of factories alleged to be producing contaminated water in a country with a high incidence of cholera, you would normally expect the police to treat him as an ally who can help them investigate the scandal. It is, sadly, the reverse for Abdulrasheed Hammad, a freelance journalist in Nigeria in Sokoto State who has endured incessant harassment from officials of the State Security Service (SSS) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
Hammad’s investigative report put the spotlight on 22 sachet water factories in Sokoto State which produce and sell ‘pure water’ to the public without registering with the National Agency For Food And Drug Administration And Control (NAFDAC), thus exposing unsuspecting consumers to health risks.
Speaking with the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Hammad explained that he and his fixer were first arrested by the police on June 15, 2024, at the instance of the owner of Al-Sherif Pure Water, one of the water factories cited in his report.
“When I paid a visit to the factory on a fact-finding assignment, I was dehumanised by the manufacturer who was not pleased with my discovery. He and his staff forced me and my fixer to sit on the floor till the police arrived. Despite identifying myself as a journalist, I was handcuffed and taken to the police station,” he narrated.
To their surprise, the police accused Hammad and his fixer of being criminals and subsequently referred them to the Crime Investigations Department (CID) of the Sokoto State police command. The duo was later asked to N5,000 for bail and forced to write a letter of apology to the owner of Al-Sherif pure water.
Following the incident, Hammad became traumatized and developed high blood pressure to the extent that he could not proceed to write reports on his findings.
“When I discovered that my bitter experience had led to trauma, I visited the hospital for a medical check-up that revealed that I had developed high blood pressure,” the journalist told MFWA. “It took some days before I was able to eventually submit my story for publication on August 11, 2024.”
SSS invitation
On August 12, 2024, two days after the publication of the investigative report, Hammad received a call from one Muhammed Ahmed, who introduced himself as an official of State Security Services (SSS) in Sokoto. The security officer asked the journalist to report at the SSS Sokoto office or get arrested. Hammad ignored the call, but at great cost to his peace of mind, as he has since endured repeated intimidation from SSS officials via phone calls.
The harassment of the journalist has been condemned by the Coalition for Whistleblowers Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF).
“For future engagements where journalists may be required to provide insight to help with investigations, security agencies should follow the appropriate invitation procedure of sending an official invite to journalists and their newsrooms. This will enable them to prepare adequately before appearing. Such appearances should also not be turned into interrogation sessions because accountability journalism is not a crime,” the CWPPF said in a statement.
In another incident, a group of police officers on August 5, 2024, broke into the hotel room of Isaac Bristol, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and arrested the undercover journalist and microblogger known popularly as @PIDOMNigeria.
He was thereafter transported to the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Abuja where he was denied food, water and access to his lawyers. Bristol was kept in handcuffs for the first six days in detention. He is still being denied access to his lawyers and visits by his family members.
After refusing for several days to state the reason for the journalist’s arrest for several days, the police finally responded to public outcry. In a press statement, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police Force, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the journalist was apprehended by the police National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCC) for involvement in leaking government documents.
While many Nigerians on social media have demanded Isaac’s release, the police are demanding two level 16 civil servants who own landed property worth at least N500 million in Abuja as sureties for his bail, a condition deemed to be rather stringent.
The Police National Cyber Crime Centre (NCCC) struck again on August 14, 2024, by detaining for eight hours Fisayo Soyombo, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) based in Lagos. He was later released on bail and mandated to report at the NPF-NCCC headquarters in Abuja for bi-weekly interrogation.
The ace investigative journalist’s harassment is also believed to be linked to a story the FIJ has published on alleged corrupt practices by Orelope Adefulire, a former Lagos State deputy governor, while she was senior special assistant on sustainable development goals (SSAP-SDGs) under the Muhammadu Buhari administration. In fact, that publication led to the arrest and detention of Soyomba’s FIJ colleague and author of the report, Daniel Ojukwu. The journalist spent 10 days in police custody in May 2024.
In March 2024, the Police interrogated the Board Chair of the FIJ and asked her to produce Soyombo, although no formal invitation had been sent to the Editor-in-Chief.
The SSS returned on August 25, 2024. Adejuwon Soyinka, a journalist with the Conversation Africa, was arrested by SSS at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. He was returning from the United Kingdom (UK) when the security officials accosted him.
Soyinka, who is the current West Africa editor of the Conversation Africa, was detained for six hours on the basis that his name had been placed on a watchlist for reasons that were not explained.
While he was released after public outrage, Soyinka’s passport is being withheld by the SSS, infringing his right to freedom of movement.
The MFWA condemns the harassment of journalists in Nigeria and urges the authorities to call the rampaging security agents to order. While calling for the release of Isaac Bristol and an end to the harassment of Hammed, Soyombo, we also urge the authorities to return Soyinka’s passport to him and allow journalists to perform their duties without fear of persecution.
