BREAKING: Police raid Premium Times, arrest publisher, Dapo Olorunyomi

The Nigeria police have raided the head office of online news medium, Premium Times in Abuja.

According to a report on the website of the outfit, its publisher Dapo Olorunyomi, was arrested alongside the paper’s judiciary correspondent, Evelyn Okakwu.

The report said, “Plain-clothed officers conducted search at the office shortly after 5p.m. Thursday, and said they were acting on a complaint filed by the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai.

“The arrests came days after PREMIUM TIMES turned down the army’s demand to retract news stories about the Nigerian Army and its operations.

The paper’s Editor-in-Chief, Musikilu Mojeed, condemned the raid.

“They should stop deluding themselves that they can muzzle the press and intimidate PREMIUM TIMES,” said Mr. Mojeed. “They should know that our loyalty lies with our readers and the Nigerian people who have a right to know.”

He said the paper will continue “to discharge its responsibilities in line with global best practices, social responsibility and patriotism, even at great risk to our personal liberties”.

It will be recalled that Premium Times has been having a running battle with the Nigerian Army and the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai.

The Army had threatened to take the online news medium to court for what it called false reportage on the war in the North East.

The Army had requested a retraction of the stories and an apology, which Premium Times declined in its rebuttal.

One comment

  1. Security is a very important factor in Nigeria today but I wonder if it should reach this level. Free press is a measure of the level of DEMOCRACY in a political entity and Nigerians have enjoyed this in the past. Lets hope that the judiciary will square up to this.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail