Five days after some police officers in Lagos State arrested Adebowale
Adekoya, a professional webmaster for NewsDigest, an Abuja-based
online medium, the newspaper’s editor, Gidado Yushau, has also been
arrested by detectives of Kwara State Police Command.
The NewsDigest’s editor and webmaster were arrested in a Gestapo-like
style for publishing an investigative news story titled, “Inside Kwara
factory where Indian hemp smoking is ‘legalised”.
According to report, Mr Yushau, who is also the Editor of the
YouthsDigest, was arrested on Tuesday night and first taken to Wuye
District Police Station, after the plain-clothed police officers
stormed his residence in Abuja.
The factory, Hillcrest Agro-Allied Industry in Ilorin, is said to be
owned by a former acting governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),
Sarah Alade.
The report, which was published on 19 May 2018, was authored by Alfred
Olufemi, an award-winning campus journalist from one of the premier
universities in the country.
In the report, it was stated that Hillcrest Agro-Allied Industry
tolerated the smoking of cigarettes as well as Indian hemp by workers
saddled with the responsibility of loading and off-loading processed
and unprocessed grains in trucks without being sanctioned
It was also reported that the firm refused to respond to author’s
inquiry on the situation, after he had put several calls and text
messages to the industry’s hotline.
Four detectives, early yesterday morning, left the Wuye Police Station
with Messrs Gidado and Adekoya in a blue vehicle, en route Ilorin for
further interrogation and with the intention of arresting Olufemi.
In a telephone chat, lawyer to the arrested NewsDigest’s staff, Yunus
Abdulsalam, said it defies logic that something that happened last
year May will be resuscitated now, a year and a half after the report
was published by the newspaper.
The lawyer, who explained that Gidado is a well-known young media
entrepreneur, criticised the police for storming the residences of the
young journalist and his webmaster, in a manner that is reminiscent of
a sting operation.
On what the ‘illegal’ arrest portends for the future of campus
journalism, Abdulsalam, said: “This is a sad commentary, and an ugly
chapter in the life of campus journalism in Nigeria. This kind of
illegality is not a good omen for campus journalism. It is also a
traumatic and horrifying experience for NewsDigest and YouthsDigest,
as a credible online media platform to promote activities of budding
writers and young journalists.
