Abuja-based journalist, Mr Manasseh Bem Paul, who works with Chronicles Reporters, a public service journalism platform, was on October 30, 2025, arrested at his residence in the Gwagwalada area of Abuja by armed policemen accompanied by Hon Ezekiel Zezelaga, the Giri LGA (FCT) All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) chairmanship candidate, who stormed his house and brutalised him before arresting him.
Reports say the police officers whisked Manasseh away in Hon. Zezelaga’s vehicle and took him to the residence of the Gwagwalada Area Council Chairman, Mr Abubakar Jibrin Giri, where he was threatened, intimidated, and assaulted. Messrs Zezelaga and Giri claimed that the activist had defamed them.
Manasseh had earlier published a report exposing alleged irregularities in contract awards by the Gwagwalada Area Council and also accused the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Hon. Zezelaga, of acquiring suspicious properties on behalf of Mr Giri.
He was, thereafter, taken to the Gwagwalada Police Division, where he was again beaten and manhandled by police officers.
The police arraigned him at the Magistrates’ Court sitting in Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT, accusing him of criminal defamation of character.
During proceedings, his lawyer, Barrister Grace, urged the court to grant him bail, arguing that the offence was bailable. The court admitted him to bail in the sum of ₦3 million with two sureties (one a Level 14 civil servant and one a businessperson, each to provide ₦3 million)
The case was adjourned to December 1, 2025, for hearing.
