Detained newspaper staff released following IPI Nigeria’s intervention

The State Security Service has released Edna Ulaeto, a staff member of Nigerian OrderPaper  newspaper, arrested on Friday.

Ms Ulaeto was released Friday evening, following the intervention of the Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria). Musikilu Mojeed, the IPI president in Nigeria, confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES.

Ms Ulaeto was detained earlier that day after armed SSS officers raided her home.

According to a statement from OrderPaper on Friday, SSS officers stormed Ms Ulaeto’s residence in the early hours of Friday.

The newspaper staff was allegedly manhandled, still in her nightclothes, and taken to an undisclosed location.

“The young lady, still in her casual nightwear, was violently manhandled and whisked away to an unknown destination, leaving her family and neighbours in shock and fear,” the statement read.

OrderPaper also alleged that Ms Ulaeto’s phone had been tracked without legal authorisation – an investigative tactic typically reserved for criminal matters.

The arrest appears to stem from a recent OrderPaper article that wrongly reported an SSS operation at the National Assembly, supposedly intended to thwart an impeachment attempt against the Senate president, Godswill Akpabio.

Though the newspaper retracted the story and issued a public apology, masked officers reportedly broke into Ms Ulaeto’s home, went through her personal belongings, and caused significant distress to her and her family.

The statement said her neighbours who attempted to intervene or document the incident were reportedly pushed aside, with some forced to delete photos and videos under the threat of arrest.

The organisation further said no formal notice or invitation was sent to Ms Ulaeto or OrderPaper before the raid, raising concerns about the legality of the operation.

“This brazen, terrifying act has left the entire staff of OrderPaper living in fear, uncertain of what may happen next,” the statement continued.

The statement called on civil society organisations and the international community to demand her immediate release and to condemn what it described as an attack on press freedom and basic human rights.

The SSS has yet to officially react to the arrest. The agency has formonths refused to appoint a spokesperson who could be contacted for enquiries.

Concerns over press freedom

The arrest of Ms Ulaeto is the latest in a series of troubling incidents targeting journalists in Nigeria.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Press Attack Tracker tracked more than 100 cases of violence and intimidation against journalists in 2024.

Federal security agencies, including the police and the SSS, are responsible for the majority of these attacks.

In one such case, in March, Segun Olatunji, the editor of FirstNews, was arrested by men in military uniform who forced their way into his home.

His family was not informed of his whereabouts, and he was held in detention for nearly two weeks. Similarly, Daniel Ojukwu of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism was detained without access to family or legal counsel and later flown to Abuja, where he was held for nine days before being released.

READ ALSO: Reps mourn Nigerian journalist

Other journalists have faced harassment, detention, and intimidation for their work. In one incident, reporters Nurudeen Akewushola and Dayo Aiyetan from the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) were detained for several hours at the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre over a story they had published.

As cases of press intimidation increase, advocacy groups have expressed concern that Nigeria is witnessing a significant backslide in press freedom. Despite constitutional protections, journalists are increasingly targeted for their work, with state actors using arbitrary detention and harassment as tools of repression.