Fisayo Soyombo, the founder of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), who was recently released by the Nigerian Army, has revealed that he was conducting an undercover investigation at the time of his arrest.
He also expressed worry about the kind of security cover available for oil bunkerers in the country.
He said this while speaking in an interview on AriseTV morning show.
“It would shock you the kind of people who escort illegal oil bunkers out of Port-Harcourt.
“The army spokesman already compromised my security by going online to say that they found illegal bunkers.”
“There are clean men in the military but we need to clean up the saboteurs who enable oil bunkerers to thrive.
“This is a new level for me that I need to do it. Rather than change approach, I will rather stop, maybe I have one, two, three under-cover investigations and I will stop.
“It is not the fun of it but the situations we found ourselves. Imagine the story I did on smugglers. People have to know that in their country they can be safe, and we need to expose these wrongdoings.
“The figure being put out in terms of Crude oil theft are an underestimation of what’s happening. The Crude we were to move was for 50,000 barrel, if the man who got annoyed that he wasn’t bribed didn’t talk, we would have had two trucks move out. There is no institution that can say for a fact the barrels being lifted daily.
“It is not only oil bunkerers that are thieves but those who are also meant to supervise the sector. What we would need is an overhaul of the system.”
We had earlier reported that Fisayo Soyombo thanked Nigerians stating that if not for the pressures piled on the Nigerian Army by the media and Nigerians, he would still be held down for as long as the Army wanted.
“Nigerians are not worth fighting for.” I hear that every now and then, and I’ve always disbelieved it. Yesterday, you proved me right. You all are the reason my detention by @HQNigerianArmy lasted ‘only’ three days. I’m a free man today because of your social media engagements with #FreeFisayoNow and the publications/broadcasts by the traditional media. And I can prove it,” Soyombo wrote.
“After my arrest at about 2am on Wednesday, I was grilled by different levels of the Army until deep into the night. I didn’t return to my cell until at least 11pm on Wednesday. My case was then forwarded to a superior office that was to interrogate me on Thursday.
“Surprisingly, Thursday was uneventful; from morning until night, this office never sent for me. I soon learnt the Army would take “as long as it wanted” to conduct their “investigation” just to establish that I was indeed an investigative journalist.
“To my utmost surprise, on Friday morning, at about 11am or thereabouts, I was retrieved from my cell for transfer to the Military Intelligence Brigade (MIB). It was during the transfer that someone who ran into me asked to know my name, after which they said: “You’re the one; you’re in the news.”
“Without your pressure, I’d still be in that cell by now, away from civilisation and held incommunicado. So, yes, my freedom is your freedom. This victory exists because of you, you and you. Thank you,” he wrote.
His arrest and detention has been condemned by all and sundry at the local and international level.
