By Mike Adeyemi with agency report
Armed soldiers have vacated Daily Trust regional offices in Maiduguri, Borno State, Lagos and Abuja following their invasion of the media house and arrest of the Regional Editor, Uthman Abubakar and a reporter, Ibrahim Sawab.
The development is coming few hours after the Federal Government directed the military to vacate the premises of the medium.
In a statement last night, The Special Assistant to President Muhammdu Buhari on media, Garba Sheu said, “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.”
The soldiers had shut the gate of the Maiduguri regional office of the medium after arresting the editorial staff on sight at the time of the raid.
The medium however claimed it was not clear why the Military took the action eventhough reports claimed the development may be connected with the lead story of Daily Trust on Sunday on military operations in the North East.
A witness also noted that the soldiers requested to see Daily Trust’s Political Editor, Hamza Idris, whose by-line appeared on the story.
Offering reasons for the action of the military, last night, the Defence spokesman, Brig. John Agim said the army was incensed by the disclosure by the newspaper of the surprise strategy which the military was planning to unleash on the insurgent thereby leaking information to the enemies.
Meanwhile, the incident has continued to generate reactions from Nigerians.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar on his twitter handle @atiku last night said, “ I have received with concern news of the sealing of Daily Trust corporate headquarters in Abuja. Freedom of the press is the bedrock of our democracy and nothing should be done to compromise it.”
Also, the former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose in his tweet, yesterday wrote, “Before us is a full-blown dictatorship & I warned! Now in a democracy, Army invaded @daily_ trust office, took its staff away! Ain’t we back to Buhari’s tyranny of 1984 when under Decree 4, journalists must not report information considered embarrassing to govt?
Similarly, former presidential spokesperson, Reno Omokri in his reaction said, “The arrest of @daily_trust’s editor is a planned media strategy by @Mbuhari’s cabal. They brainstormed overnight on how to mitigate the damage from #AmaechiTapes. The whole thing is choreographed. Daily Trust is their baby. They even kicked out Farooq Kperogi for criticising Buhari.”
