FIJ journalist held by police for ‘cybercrime’

Daniel Ojukwu, a journalist with The Foundation of Investigative Journalism (FIJ), has been reportedly detained by the police over an allegation bordering on “cybercrime”.

The management of FIJ said Ojukwu went missing on May 1 while his contact numbers were not reachable as family and friends struggled to reach him.

FIJ said a track of Ojukwu’s devices revealed his last active location to be in Isheri Olofin, Alimosho LGA, noting that the area was the place where the police arrested the journalist.

The foundation revealed that Ojukwu’s family discovered he is being held by the intelligence response team (IRT) of the inspector-general of police (IGP) at the state criminal investigation department (SCID), Panti area of Lagos.

The newspaper claimed that the journalist is being held for the alleged violation of the 2015 Cybercrime Act.

Fisayo Soyombo, the FIJ founder, said he suspects Ojukwu was arrested over a certain investigative story he reported in November 2023.

Ojukwu reported that the office of the senior special assistant to the president on sustainable development goals (OSSAP-SDGs) awarded a contract for the construction of one skill acquisition centre and one block of six classrooms at Ajeromi Primary School in Lagos at the cost of N147 million.

According to the report, the fund for the contract was paid into the “account of a restaurant,” while the project was not situated in its designated location.

The report revealed that the skill acquisition centre was constructed in Ladi-Lak Nursery and Primary School on 2, Randle Road, Apapa, and the block of six classrooms in Metropolitan Nursery and Primary School, Adekunle Deen Street, Off Mile 2-Ijora Expressway, Ijora.

Attempts to reach Benjamin Hundeyin, spokesperson of the Lagos police command, were unsuccessful as his phone line was not reachable, and messages were not replied to at the time of filing this report.