IPI Nigeria demands immediate release of journalist Stanley Ugagbe

The Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria) has strongly condemned the reported abduction of journalist Stanley Ugagbe by security operatives. Ugagbe was allegedly taken into custody shortly after his employer, Secret Reporters, published an investigative report.

“

They took him to his house and went to his room in Jikwoyi to seize his official laptop and phone before whisking him away to an unknown location.

Preliminary information suggests that four unidentified men abducted Ugagbe from his Abuja residence. Fejiro Oliver, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Secret Reporters, alleged that Nigeria Police Force officers carried out the operation. They reportedly seized Ugagbe's laptop and phone from his home before taking him to an unknown location. Searches at various police facilities and detention centers have so far failed to locate him.

“

Our lawyer and editor, alongside a senior reporter, searched the former SARS facility, the FCT Police Command and the Force Headquarters without finding him.

IPI Nigeria criticizes the manner of Ugagbe's arrest and his subsequent incommunicado detention, which denies him access to family, lawyers, and his employer. The organization calls on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct security agencies to immediately produce Ugagbe, disclose the legal basis for his arrest, and either charge him promptly or release him. IPI Nigeria warns against the growing trend of using security agencies to intimidate journalists, emphasizing that such actions undermine press freedom, the rule of law, and Nigeria's democratic credentials.

“

At a time when Nigeria continues to grapple with serious security challenges, it is disturbing that security agencies still resort to unlawful arrests and detention practices that disregard constitutional safeguards and due process.