There Are ‘2 Or 3 Weighty Allegations’ Against Soyombo, Says Police Spokesman
Ademuyiwa Adejobi, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), has claimed that the police have not yet declared ‘Fisayo Soyombo, FIJ’s founder and editor-in-chief, wanted.
However, he revealed he was aware of “two or three weighty allegations” against him and his platform.
Adejobi was speaking on Politics Today, an evening programme anchored by Seun Okinbaloye on Channels Television, on Monday.
The Nigeria Police Force National National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) had invited Bukky Shonibare, FIJ’s Board of Trustees’ chairperson, for questioning on March 26, but ended up compelling her to “produce Fisayo”. This is despite the NPF-NCCC officials being the first to acknowledge that Soyombo was out of the country.
While answering questions by Okinbaloye, Adejobi also failed to speak about the nature of the petitions, except saying “there are weighty allegations about some publications” FIJ did.
“No, I don’t think so; we have not declared Soyombo wanted,” Adejobi said when asked by Okinbaloye if Soyombo had truly been declared wanted by the police.
“But I think there are petitions against him. And I think the National Cybercrime Centre handling the case will know a professional way of getting across to him.
“We can’t just declare him wanted. If he’s around, they must have sent an invitation letter to him. He would honour it. I know him; I know he would honour it.
“But if he’s not around, he would tell them ‘I’m not around; I’ll get across to him’. There’s no need for us to be declaring him wanted. I’m sure they are communicating with him.
“It has not gotten to that level of declaring him wanted. I’m sure of about two or three petitions against him because the CP briefed me this morning when I asked him questions.
“Because I read it, too, online that he has been declared wanted. Some people said he would be turning himself in today. Some people said he has been arrested and is in detention.
“I sought a clarification from the CP. He told me no, but definitely they are going to invite him because there are weighty allegations concerning certain publications that his platform did. And of course, an invitation to the police at this level is just to come and clarify certain things. Nothing more.”
As of today, the NPF-NCCC has not yet officially communicated an invitation to Soyombo.
Although the NPF-NCC did not expressly say it, FIJ believes the police’s renewed interest in FIJ is in relation to its six-week-long investigative focus on smuggling and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
On Tuesday, February 20, FIJ released the trailer of the investigation — ‘Undercover as a Smuggler’ — by ‘Fisayo Soyombo, and followed it up with a multimedia story on Wednesday February 21 and a 16-minute documentary on Thursday February 22.
Among many other things, FIJ’s story had unveiled how smuggling is aided by NCS bosses who take bribes from smugglers and then betray patrol teams by updating smugglers on their colleagues’ itinerary.
It also spotlighted the criminal business history of the southwest’s biggest smuggler Ibrahim Dende Egungbohun — whose allies in power include Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR, the current Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), and President Bola Tinubu — in the cross-border movement of goods and arms and ammunition.
Culled from FIJ