BY RITA OYIBOKA
THE International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos, through its Safety and Protection of Journalists (SPJ) Hub, has condemned the unlawful detention of Adenike Atanda, wife of Sodeeq Atanda, a senior reporter with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ).
This was contained in a statement signed by the Press Freedom Officer SPJ-Hub, Melody Akinjiyan and released to The Pointer yesterday.
Adenike and her nine-month-old baby were reportedly arrested by men of the Nigeria Police Force in Owutu, Ikorodu, on Monday, December 22, 2025, after being tracked to their neighbourhood.
According to information obtained by IPC-SPJ Hub, “The Police also picked Atanda up after using his family as bait, abducting his wife and nine-month-old baby, detaining them for over five hours at the police station in Owutu, Ikorodu, and coercing Atanda’s wife into calling her husband on the phone to lie that their child was ill and hospitalized.”
Records from the IPC-SPJ Hub database show that Sodeeq Atanda had recently faced a similar ordeal. “He was detained for over eight hours by the Ekiti State Police Command on the orders of Commissioner of Police Joseph Eribo after honouring a Police invitation on September 9, 2025, in Ado-Ekiti,” the Hub noted.
The SPJ-Hub described the repeated actions by the Police as “a major threat to the safety of journalist Atanda” and as reflecting “a continuous attempt to stifle press freedom and subject journalists and even their loved ones to harm.”
In a statement, IPC Executive Director, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, said, “This is a stark reminder of the darker period of military rule when, for example, State Security Agents of the Abacha regime arrested Mrs. Ladi Olorunyomi and her then three-month-old son as they placed a get him dead or alive bounty on the head of Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi, then of The News/Tempo group. It is clearly not acceptable.”
The SPJ-Hub further stressed that the Police, entrusted with safeguarding lives and property, should focus on this core responsibility. “This incident does not show they are diligently carrying out their primary duty,” the statement added.
