Arrested Journalist Fisayo Soyombo released on bail

The Nigerian police have freed Fisayo Soyombo, journalist and founder of online newspaper, FIJ, who was detained earlier on Monday.

The journalist and founder of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), was detained on Monday, Dec. 13, when he honoured a police invitation at the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters in Abuja.

He was released on bail on the same day and was asked to return on January 13, 2022. FIJ disclosed his release in a tweet.

“We can confirm that our Founder @fisayosoyombo has been released by the Force Headquarters. He was released on bail at exactly 6:26pm today and is to return on January 13, 2022. Our only offence here is that we published a TRUE story,” the publication tweeted.

Fisayo also announced his release on Facebook, writing: “Special thanks to my colleagues at FIJ Nigeria, lawyers, ex-bosses, the media houses who published stories, and everyone who tweeted, ‘Facebooked’, texted and made phone calls to press for my release from detention. I am out.

“Journalists, activists, lawyers and everyone else working in the public interest should not have to deal with a distraction like this, but none of us must give up on the Nigerian dream.”

Soyombo started as TheCable’s first editor in April 2014. During this period, he disguised as a clearing agent to reveal the decay in the Nigerian Customs Service. By the end of 2017, he left his position as the editor and started freelancing. However, he continued publishing his work on TheCable website.

He did an undercover report titled “With N46,000 bribe, I drove a ‘stolen’ car from Abuja to Lagos, and back!” published in May 2018 on the newspaper’s website. Soyombo reported that over two days, he drove an equivalent of a stolen vehicle from Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, to Lagos without being apprehended by the police, despite passing 86 checkpoints.

In 2019, he went undercover to reveal the rampant corruption in Nigeria’s justice system, focusing on the police and the prison service. Soyombo spent days at the Pedro Police Station, Shomolu, Lagos, under the cover name “Ojo Olajumoke”. He also spent eight days at the Ikoyi Prison in Lagos.

The Guardian then reported that there were plans by the Nigerian security forces to arrest Soyombo, forcing him to go into hiding for some time. The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) immediately denied making any attempt to arrest him.

This led to the birth of the Twitter hashtag #KeepFisayoSafe where journalists and other Nigerians demanded his protection from harm.