FUOYE Investigations: Nigerian Police Invites FIJ’s Soyombo To Ekiti After Illegally Detaining Reporter
Ekiti State Command of the Nigeria Police Force, has invited founder and editor-in-chief of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), Fisayo Soyombo, for interrogation over allegations of conspiracy, criminal defamation, cyberbullying and blackmail.
FIJ disclosed that the invitation came barely an hour before the release of its senior reporter, Sodeeq Atanda, who had been detained and grilled by the police for about 11 hours on Tuesday.
Atanda had earlier been invited on September 1 to answer questions bordering on “malicious misrepresentation” and similar allegations.
In the fresh letter addressed to the newsroom, Musa Hadi, Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Intelligence Department (SID), directed Soyombo to appear at the state headquarters in Ado-Ekiti on September 15, stating that his name had come up in an ongoing investigation.
FIJ noted that the so-called probe is not unconnected to its series of hard-hitting reports exposing sexual misconduct allegations against Abayomi Fasina, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), who is currently on leave.
The reports detailed Fasina’s alleged harassment of Folasade Adebayo, a serving director at the university.
“This office is investigating case [sic] of conspiracy, criminal defamation, blackmailing and cyber-bullying in which your name featured,” the invite reads.
“You are kindly requested to interview the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command, on 15th September, 2025, at 12:00 noon through the Assistant Commissioner of Police, in charge of State Intelligence Department (SID), Police State Headquarters, Ado-Ekiti.”
The invitation coincided with the time they likely told him Soyombo must appear before they would release him.
During Atanda’s interrogation with the police, they pressed him to reveal his sources, dictated parts of his statement, and even said he would be held in detention for at least one week until Soyombo shows up in person.
At one point, Dayo Adekale, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), said that the reporter’s persistent publications on Fasina was a crime similar to “attempted murder”.
Before Joseph Eribo, the commissioner of police, ordered his express release, Adekale set Atanda’s bail conditions as two sureties, with one owning a landed property worth N2million within their jurisdiction or the N2million cash deposit.
The second surety must be a level 10 civil servant at the state or federal commission, also within the state.
All of these, alongside an affidavit sworn to both of them.
Adekale vowed that he wouldn’t be released until he met the conditions.
Meanwhile, when Eribo met Atanda, he said “his people were already making noise” and claimed he didn’t know he was a journalist. Atanda was only allowed to leave the station at 7:40 pm and was told to tell his people to “stop making noise”.
Hafsoh Isiaq is a graduate of Linguistics. An avid writer committed to creative, high-quality research and news reportage. She has considerable experience in writing and reporting across a variety of platforms including print and online.
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