Investigative journalist Daniel Ojukwu is currently in custody, remanded over reports that questioned public spending. His detention has drawn a sharp and collective response from across Nigeria's civil society space.
Seventeen media and civil society organisations have come together to condemn the remand, calling it an attack on press freedom and demanding that Ojukwu be released immediately. Their joint position is clear: holding a journalist accountable through criminal detention for doing his job is not justice, it is intimidation.
The coalition is also calling for an end to what they describe as the criminalisation of investigative journalism, a pattern that continues to put reporters at risk simply for asking questions about how public money is spent. The case of Daniel Ojukwu is now a flashpoint in a much larger conversation about who gets to hold power to account in Nigeria.
Originally published by Premium Times.