Thav TV

On Friday the 22nd of July 2022, the Peoples Gazette head office, located opposite NNPC Quarters in Utako, Abuja, was raided by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), allegedly under the directive of the Nigerian government.

According to reports from Peoples Gazette, at about 12:35 p.m. five armed police officers arrested one of the papers editors, John Adenekan, that was reportedly after breaking into the paper’s office, and later came back to arrest four staff members, they include; Ameedat Adeyemi, Grace Oke, Sammy Ogbu and Justina Tayani.

The reports say that the officers while demanding to see Samuel Ogundipe, the Managing Editor and Adefemola Akintade, a reporter, said the arrests were made in relation to publication made by the paper on the 23rd of June, a story which is said to have been about how “anti-graft ICPC raided a property belonging to chief of army staff, Tukur Buratai and recovered cash and luxury items.”

Further stating that, “the ICPC confirmed the recovery, and anti-corruption groups demanded a thorough investigation and prosecution of Mr Buratai, who was responsible for the 2020 massacre of Nigerians at Lekki Toll Gate.”

However, Peoples Gazette has it that both journalists sought after by the Nigerian Police Force were currently unavailable at the moment which led the NPF to arrest Mr John Adenekan in their stead, which is perpetuating an unconstitutional tradition of arresting associates in the event that people of interest are unavailable.

Mr Adenekan said he was being taken to the Utako police division following the raid, which comes as the Buhari regime gets increasingly angry with the paper’s brand of journalism.

“Muhammadu Buhari may cry about what and what shouldn’t be his legacy, but this unwarranted onslaught on our journalists today, one of many we have suffered since we launched PG in September 2020, will forever live in infamy for his despotic regime,” Mr Ogundipe said.

The Gazette claims it has faced several attacks since its inception in September 2020, which according to the paper is aimed at “intimidating its journalists,” some of which over time include; the restriction of access to its website in January 2021 and the invasion of the same head office in January 2022 by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

https://thavmedia.com/peoples-gazette-head-office-at-abuja-raided-by-the-nigerian-police-force/