On May 31, 2022 an officer of the Nigeria Police, Osun State Command, arrested Uthman Ismail, deputy editor of the Osun Defender Online at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Correspondents’ Chapel premises in Osogbo, the Osun State capital
He was taken to Dugbe Police Station in Oshogbo where he met with the Chief Superintendent of Police, Oyegbade Akinloye. The editor was interrogated in front of the police station as to why he was filming police action dispersing a protesting crowd. He was ordered to delete the video he had taken but he refused.
Uthman was arrested because a policeman had seen him earlier on filming the scene of a students’ protest at Orita Olaiya in Osogbo. The students were protesting the alleged extra-judicial killing of the late Mr. Abiola Afolabi, who was reportedly killed by policemen on April 4, 2022 and buried on May 31. The late Mr. Afolabi’s friends had decided to hold a rally after his burial and converged on Olaiya on that day.
While being interrogated, members of the NUJ arrived at the station and Uthman was thereafter released.
