Tag: Olatunji

I was having conversations with a retired senior military officer last Wednesday and I sought his opinion as regards the insecurity situation in Nigeria. Now, this man was someone I had earlier worked closely with in Aso Rock during the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo between May 29, 1999 and May 29, 2007. Though a top intelligence officer with track record of achievements, he was one officer that knew how to work closely with a select group of journalists covering the State House then and he was always there to defend us even when some power-wielding colleagues made attempts to harass us at the Villa’s Officers’ Mess, which was a popular gathering point in those days.

Of course, he made spirited efforts to avoid the barrage of questions,  my persistence paid off eventually. He was clear that, without the political will to implement the measures that have been, severally, tabled before the authorities, Nigeria may as well continue to “regale in the tragic impulses that are the hallmarks of the bandit economy” that we have unfortunately succumbed to. I noticed that his countenance changed as he gave this heavy verdict. He said after years of appearing as guest speaker on popular breakfast shows to contribute his quota and advise the leadership on how best to approach the festering and dangerous insecurity situation across the nation, it dawned on him that the seriousness being paid to sophistry and political correctness appear to have gained more traction than the application of the right methodologies. He said he was at no time in doubt that the various security apparatchiks have the capacity to reduce to the barest minimum criminal activities like kidnappings and banditry. The only clog to achieving this, he noted, is what he described as the unmitigated gangsterism and brazen mercantilism of the insecurity situation in Nigeria.

Even without mentioning it, I knew the man was drawing a correlation between the daylight abduction of the Editor of First News Media, Mr. Segun Olatunji by a combination of unknown soldiers and intelligence officers from his Lagos home and the cold-blooded manner the same gangsters ‘released’ him in Abuja penultimate Thursday after being incarcerated for 14 days of torture and indescribable trauma. Perhaps, the last time Nigerians witnessed such display of reckless authoritarianism by the state was during the draconian rule of the late General Sani Abacha.

As I write this, 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.

By now, one had thought the DIA or, by extension, the Federal Government would have come out with a statement condemning the treatment of citizen Olatunnji whose only crime, I reckon, was his commitment to carrying out his duty as a watchdog in the drive to curb the excesses in governance and ensure that the dividends of democracy trickle down to all citizens in a just and equitable manner. Instead, some 10 days after he was dumped into our ‘safe’ hands under a non-descript bridge somewhere in Asokoro, Abuja, Nigerians appear to have moved on. After all, Segun Olatunji was even lucky to have been released by his powerful abductors without needing to pay any ransom and also there was no visible signs of physical harm when he was flung back into the society. My gosh! Is it that simplistic? Do they think they have done the rest of us a huge favour by locking up a man in a solitary, dingy underground cell for 14 days and then releasing him like a common criminal? Do they really think this act of state terror should attract a thunderous plaudit? In their hearts of hearts, do they truly believe that Olatunji was into terrorism or was that a conflated charge meant to drum fear into him and also get his professional colleagues to surrender to the dark forces who relish applying the pangs of state torture? What exactly could have angered the sadist clique  so much that a military aircraft (when they say that the military lacks enough of such) was dispatched to Lagos to freight the human cargo who had already been humiliated in front of his close family members and neighbours by fully kitted, intimidatingly armed, hooded men serving a duty of personal hatred?

For us to have a deeper understanding of the emotional, physical and psychological tortures that Olatunji went through in those 14 harrowing days, let me try to paraphrase what he said about his travails under the full power of these goons. Apparently, he could have been wasted if that was the ultimate goal within that period. Thankfully, it was not. And so, after about one week of tracking him with state resources and trailing him to his hometown in Ogun State and subsequently, to his house somewhere in Lagos, the goons swooped on him by first getting his wife who was captured in her shop and made to lead them to the house. There, Olatunji was graciously allowed to wear something to cover his boxers and begin an ordeal that lasted 14 days. He said that by the time he got thrown into the underground cell, an officer added a leg cuff to the hand cuff which was never removed throughout the forced journey to Abuja. Not just that, the same officer ensured that his right hand was tightened firmly to the cuff on the left leg and that was how he slept for about three or four days in the cell before his first interrogation. And rather than bring up evidence linking him to terrorism, he was merely asked about some stories he wrote about a top military officer and another one big politician in the corridors of power.

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Strikingly, he told them that the story relating to the military top gun was a general story and he wondered why he was being singled out for interrogation and torture. It was after then that the name of the politician came up and he was accused of writing falsehood about the politician’s dealings. That done, he was returned to the cell and forgotten there until the relentless outcry by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), the International Press Institute (IPI) which insisted that its findings showed that Olatunji was with the DIA in spite of the denial, the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), his family members, friends and employers forced the DIA to admit to ‘holding” Olatunji in their custody after allegedly lying barefacedly to the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and the Minister for Information and Orientation, Mallam Mohammed Idris. I still can’t believe that these guys actually lied to their superiors. What could have warranted such unprofessional and arbitrary use of coercive power if their victim was being held within the ambit of the law?

In another interview on Kakaaki, the AIT’s breakfast programme, Olatunji said he was treated like an animal in captivity. He could barely use the toilet as there were no provision for any form of toiletries even if he did. And to ensure that life was hellish, food or something close to it was hardly served. Having been cuffed for days, his right leg and hand were numbed and he could barely tell the difference between day and night in the torture chamber. It was almost enough punishment to deal with the ubiquitous bands of armed terrorists, bandits and kidnappers operating wantonly across the Nigerian landscape, but that was a journalist’s punishment for penning a story about some of the movers and shakers of our collective destiny. These are the men who deploy hooded hirelings to inflict injuries on fellow humans just because they are in positions of authority. These are the ones who abuse power and are corrupted by its absolutism. Have they forgotten so easily that history has shown us, over the years, that power is transient and that, sooner rather than later, the cookie will crumble and power will change hands? Haven’t they read about the men of power who died on the seat and still ended up with records of infamy being the only memories people recall today?

Talking about bandit economy, my friend, the General, said it is only in a bad system that agents of the state would behave like bandits and walk away without any consequence. He said there are lines of authorities and that it is worrisome that, after admitting that Olatunji was seized by the DIA, he was released to two of his professional colleagues, Dr. Iyobosa Uwagiaren and Mr. Yomi Odunuga, at a location under a bridge as if a kidnapped victim was being handed back to the family after the payment of ransom. Scary?

In any case, isn’t it a tragedy that the same security agencies that have repeatedly failed to deploy tracking gadgets at their disposal to apprehend known bandits, terrorists and kidnappers daily messing up the lives of Nigerians could easily track every movements and calls that Segun Olatunji made two weeks before his eventual abduction? What does that say about a bandit mentality anyway? Does it mean swift and urgent action can only be taken when the interest of the high and mighty individual is at stake? Personally, I am worried by the criminal silence from us all after Olatunjii was released by these dark forces operating freely within the system. To my mind, this seems to put the current administration of progressive ideals to question.  And that is why this matter cannot simply be wished away as if it were one of the military adventurism where lives were randomly wasted and pains wantonly applied on the defenseless without anyone questioning them. If they say Olatunji is a terrorist, wouldn’t it be nice if they can charge him before a court of competent jurisdiction? And if it turns out to be a false allegation based on wrong intelligence, shouldn’t the authorities tender an unreserved apology and duly compensate him for the 14 days of official intimidation and vain power show?

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?