Nigerians react to planned arrest of journalist who exposed rot in prison system

A journalist whose undercover stories exposed the depth of corruption in Nigerian police cells and prison may be arrested by the Nigerian authorities, a report from The Guardian newspaper claims


The first instalment of the three-part investigation by Fisayo Soyombo, a former editor of The Cable and a contributor to Al Jazeera, detailed how Nigerian policemen “pervert the course of justice in their quest for ill-gotten money”.

In the second part of the investigation published on Monday by The Cable, he exposed “how the courts short-change the law, and the prisons are themselves a cesspool of the exact reasons for which they hold inmates.”


During his investigation, Soyombo took on an alias – Ojo Olajumoke – spent five days in a cell at Pedro Police Station, Shomolu, Lagos. And eight days in Ikoyi prison.

His reports contained audio, pictorial and video evidence of corruption in the Nigerian judicial system.

The Guardian learned that it is the second part of Soyombo’s story that has irked the Nigerian prison authorities, especially the comptroller-general of the prison services.

A security source told The Guardian on Tuesday morning that Soyombo, scheduled to speak at a workshop on fake news organised by Goethe Institute on Tuesday evening, is to be arrested at the venue of the event. He has since pulled out of the event.

Nigerians have now taken to twitter to condemn the planned arrest.