Tobias Sylvester
The Federal Government has directed the military to vacate the premises of Daily Trust offices and the order has been complied with.
Earlier, we reported that armed soldiers invaded the Daily Trust Newspaper regional office in Borno and the head office in Abuja on Sunday, January 6, 2019.
During the invasion of its Borno office, the regional editor, Uthman Abubakar and a reporter, Ibrahim Sawab, were arrested. An eyewitness said that they also asked for an editor, Hamza Idris. The soldiers also shut the gate of the regional office.
In Abuja, the soldiers forced the gate open and drove in with three Jokic vans loaded with armed soldiers. Everyone in the building was asked to move to the ground floor while the soldiers moved computers.
Daily Trust alleged that the raid by the soldiers might be connected to a story which is published on Sunday on a military operation in the North-East. (Read the report HERE).
Following the invasion, the federal government in a statement by Garba Shehu the Official Spokesperson of President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday night said that issues between the military and the newspaper as they affect the coverage of the war in the Northeast will be resolved through dialogue.
The Federal Government has directed the military to vacate the premises of @daily_trust and the order has been complied with. Issues between the military and the newspaper as they affect the coverage of the war in the Northeast will be resolved through dialogue.
— Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) January 6, 2019
The Editor in Chief of Daily Trust, Mannir Dan Ali, told an online medium Sunday night that the face-off with the soldiers was being resolved. He said:
“Government officials are trying to resolve the matter.”
Dan Ali said the military was merely using the paper’s current edition as an excuse to clamp down on the newspaper, but that it was clear authorities were unhappy with Daily Trust’s coverage of the recent losses to Boko Haram.
A military source said the army was incensed by the disclosure by the newspaper of the surprising strategy which the military was planning to unleash on the insurgents thereby ‘leaking’ information to the enemies.
