(IJC/IFEX) – Security officers from the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) twice stormed the editorial offices of “The News” magazine in Lagos on 3 November 1997. They were there at 2:00 am and 10:00 am. On both occasions, they demanded to see Bayo Onanuga, managing director of The News/TEMPO/PM News group, but he was not […]
(IJC/IFEX) – Security officers from the Directorate of Military
Intelligence (DMI) twice stormed the editorial offices of “The
News” magazine in Lagos on 3 November 1997. They were there at
2:00 am and 10:00 am. On both occasions, they demanded to see
Bayo Onanuga, managing director of The News/TEMPO/PM News group,
but he was not there. The officers left, promising to come back
again.
In recent weeks, “The News” has been a target of security attacks
and harassment (see IFEX alerts).
Elsewhere, security officers have launched a full-scale manhunt
for the Taraba State correspondent of “The News”, Ben Adaji. He
is wanted in connection with a story entitled “War in Taraba”,
which he wrote in last week’s edition of the magazine. The story
detailed the build-up and outbreak of a communal war in the Takum
district of Taraba State. The article also detailed the
behind-the-scenes roles of some military officers.
In a telephone message to the magazine’s Lagos headquarters on 27
October, Adaji said the way the security operatives were
conducting the search for him was frightening and that he was in
hiding somewhere outside Taraba State. He said the government had
employed various means to suppress media reports on the communal
conflict, and must have been worried that he got it published.
Taraba state is located in northeastern Nigeria, and Jalingo is
its capital.
