Unlawful Detention of Sodeeq Atanda, a Senior Reporter with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ)

Sodeeq Atanda, a senior reporter with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), was taken into custody on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, by the Ekiti State Police Command in Ado-Ekiti. The police had summoned Atanda based on a petition by Abayomi Fasina, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), complaining of cyberbullying, blackmail and criminal defamation.

he was detained at the headquarters of the Ekiti state police command for over 8 hours on the orders of Ekiti State Commissioner of Police Joseph Eribo, upon honoring the invitation.

This action, reportedly instigated by a petition submitted to the police following a report published by the FIJ, is a direct and unwarranted assault on press freedom and an attempt to intimidate journalists from reporting on matters of public interest.

According to the journalist, the police and the complainant’s representative at intervals insisted that he disclosed his sources, an act that is not only against standard journalistic principles but also violates the rights of the persons involved to privacy.

Mr. Atanda was thereafter subjected to inhumane treatments by the police officers who forced him to walk barefoot in the premises of the police headquarters and stringent bail conditions including the provision of two sureties, one of whom must provide cash or landed properties valued at the sum of Two Million Naira (N2,000,000.00K) Only in Ado-Ekiti or any part of Nigeria with Certificate of Occupancy while the Second surety must be a level-10 Officer and above in State or Federal Civil Service serving within the jurisdiction of Ekiti State, Nigeria. He was, however, eventually released unconditionally.

An extended invitation of Fisayo Soyombo, publisher of FIJ, for an interview with the Commissioner of Police on September 15th at the Police Headquarters in Ado Ekiti, despite FIJ’s office being in Lagos, leads us to believe that the newsroom is being further targeted.