Gunmen abduct former PUNCH reporter Segun Olatunji after controversial reports

Editor of FirstNews newspaper Segun Olatunji has been abducted from his home in the Iyana Odo, Abule Egba area of Lagos State.

Mr Olatunji, a former Kaduna State correspondent of The PUNCH, was taken away on Friday by gunmen believed to be soldiers.

The management of the online newspaper, in a Saturday statement, linked the incident to some controversial reports.

One of the report is titled, “Revealed: “Defence Chief running office like family business – Public Interest Lawyers”.

The other report, which has since been unpublished according to the newspaper, is titled, “EXCLUSIVE: How contractor, company stole N100bn, laundered funds for top govt officials – Investigation.”

The statement quoted Olatunji’s wife as saying that about 10 armed men arrived at their residence, a few minutes after 6 pm on Friday, and whisked her husband away.

She said her husband’s abductors reached for his phone and seized it immediately after they arrived before bundling him into a van.

“Some armed men dressed in military uniform totaling 10 (two in uniform and the remaining eight in mufti but all armed) arrived at our residence at Dauda Oriyomi Street, Iyana Odo along Joke Ayo in Abule Egba area of Lagos State and took away my husband.

“They refused to state his offence and where they were taking him to despite all the efforts to make them do so,” she said.

Publisher of FirstNews Daniel Iworiso-Markson said, “If there was any infraction that borders on national security, Olatunji should have first been formally invited rather than this Gestapo style of arrest that reminds us of the dark days of the military era, where press freedom was stifled.”