On December 19, 2022, Mr. Luminous Jannamike, the Religious Affairs and Civil Society correspondent of the privately-owned Vanguard newspaper, was detained on the orders of Mr. Johnson Babatunde Kokumo, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Federal Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID), Abuja at one of the FCIID facilities.
Luminous who appeared before the police with Vanguard Assistant Editor (Defence/Crime Desk), Mr. Kingsley Omonobi, was detained for five hours and later granted bail.
He was apparently arrested over a petition that was written against some journalists who reported the call by a civil society group asking the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Christian Pilgrims Commission, Rev. Yakubu Pam, to resign in order to pave way for unbiased investigation into sundry allegations against him.
Luminous said: “Neither my name nor Vanguard Newspaper was mentioned in the petition, but I was roped into the case for reasons best known only to the police.”
The correspondent later wrote on his Facebook page that: “I have been released by the Federal Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department. I was released on bail at exactly 3.59pm today [December 19, 2022] and I am to return anytime my presence is required.
