On Sunday, armed soldiers stormed the newspaper’s office in Maiduguri
and arrested Uthman Abubakar, the regional editor, and Ibrahim Sawab, a
reporter.
Hours after shutting down the Maiduguri office,
soldiers also invaded the newspaper’s head office in Abuja and its Lagos
bureau office.
Lanre Arogundade, IPC director, described the development as a “fresh threat to freedom of the press”.
He
said in a statement: “The International Press Centre (IPC),
Lagos-Nigeria, condemns in strong terms, the forceful closure of Daily
Trust Newspapers’ head office in Abuja and the organisation’s Maiduguri
office by military personnel on Sunday January 6, 2019.
“A senior
editorial staff of the organisation confirmed the military onslaught on
the media establishment stating that staff had been ordered out of the
premises, laptops and computers seized and operations halted. No reason,
he said, was given for the action.
“IPC considers this
development as a fresh threat to freedom of the press as well as the
freedom and individual liberties of journalists and other media
professionals working in Daily Trust.
“The action of the military is also a threat to democracy with the presidential elections, less than two months away.
“The
military is bound by the laws of the land and cannot in any
circumstance be allowed to resort to extra judicial measures no matter
its grievances.”
The soldiers had requested to see Hamza Idris,
Daily Trust’s political editor who co-authored Sunday’s frontpage report
about the military’s operation in the north-east.