Former President of the Journalists Union in the country, Lanre Ogundipe, has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Adejuwon Soyinka, the Regional Editor of The Conversation Africa.
According to the statement, Mr. Soyinka was arrested early this morning around 5:40 am at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, by operatives of the State Security Department upon his return from the United Kingdom.
In the press statement, Ogundipe expressed his concerns about the clampdown on journalists in the country under the current regime, stating that it shows traces of a return to a fascist government under President Bola Tinubu.
"I am not disappointed but surprised that the intelligence agents under President Tinubu have returned to the era of fascism under the military with the indiscriminate arrest of journalists in the country," Ogundipe said.
He further stated that Soyinka's arrest is worrisome and that the continued deterioration of the freedom of the press in Nigeria has been on the increase in recent times.