(MRA/IFEX) – Nigeria’s intelligence agency, the State Security Service (SSS), has arrested and detained Isaac Umunna, an editorial consultant for the Lagos-based weekly “Global Star” and general editor of the London-based magazine “Africa Today”. Umunna was arrested and detained on 9 September 2004 when he honoured an SSS directive asking him to report to the […]
(MRA/IFEX) – Nigeria’s intelligence agency, the State Security Service (SSS), has arrested and detained Isaac Umunna, an editorial consultant for the Lagos-based weekly “Global Star” and general editor of the London-based magazine “Africa Today”.
Umunna was arrested and detained on 9 September 2004 when he honoured an SSS directive asking him to report to the agency’s Lagos State headquarters in Shangisha, on the outskirts of Lagos.
Heavily armed SSS security agents raided the office of the “Global Star” on 8 September. Umunna was away from the office at the time, but security agents arrested his wife, Hope Umunna. Hope Umunna was released later on the evening of 8 September after spending about four hours in custody, but the security agents instructed her to tell her husband to report to the SSS office by 9 September.
On 9 September, at about 1:00 p.m. (local time), Umunna and his wife reported to the SSS office, where the editor was arrested and detained. Although Umunna’s lawyer, Obi Akabogu, repeatedly visited the SSS office on 10 and 11 September, Umunna has been denied access to him.
Umunna has not been informed of the reason for his arrest and detention and has not been told specifically what story or article the intelligence agency is displeased with.
Hope Umunna, who has been bringing meals to her husband at the SSS office, said he has developed diarrhoea, but has not been allowed to see a doctor.
