Ms Azuka Ogujiuba, Chief Executive of an online entertainment news website, Media Room Hub, and a former writer for This Day Style magazine, was harassed, arrested and detained for days by officers at the Special Investigation Unit of the Nigeria Police Force at the Asokoro Division in Abuja over her coverage of a land dispute.
According to reports, Ms Ogujiuba was arrested and detained twice, while the police continue to summon her to Abuja despite living and working in Lagos.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos on September 16, 2025, she accused the Nigeria Police Force of harassment, assault, and unlawful detention over allegations of cyberbullying and defamation of character. She added that her health had deteriorated since she was detained in a cell in Abuja for three days without food.
Narrating her ordeal, she said, “The Nigeria Police Force forced me to write an apology letter. They forced me to write that what I published was not true.
“They were telling me what to write. One of the officers made me do an undertaking that the letter was not done under duress. I had no options when I saw a gun facing me while under their custody.”
She explained that she honoured a police invitation in Abuja on August 6, 2025, despite living and working in Lagos, only to be confronted with a petition accusing her of cyberbullying and defamation.
She said she was surprised by the accusation because the court injunction she posted, for which she was being accused, had been published by several other media outlets. She said she told the police that the court injunction was a public document and not intended to bully or defame anyone.
She disclosed that she was initially granted bail and asked to return after two weeks, but was later ambushed in Abuja by some policemen in mufti, in a gangster manner, while attending a paid event.
“I was at a scheduled interview when I started receiving calls from the officer, insisting that the petitioner wanted to see me. I reminded him that I had bail and promised to come after work.
“But while leaving the office, we suddenly heard commotion outside, and since they were not in uniform, we thought they were kidnappers. They targeted my phone, pounced on me, and manhandled me,” she narrated.
She said she was taken back to the police office, where she was humiliated and intimidated by some police officers and at the police station, followed around the office with a gun, like she was a terrorist.
Continuing, she said, “They were unnecessarily hostile. I asked to see their boss, but they refused. When I tried to call my lawyer and family, they came aggressively at me and snatched my phone.”
She said she was eventually locked up in a cell which, according to her, was “smelling” and left there for three days without food. She described her detention as harrowing.
