Today again, I was summoned by the Nigeria Police Force under the leadership of the illegal Inspector General of Nigeria Police Force, Kayode Egbetokun. As has become their style, it was the IGP Monitoring Unit led by none other than the notorious former SARS commander, Akin Fakorede, that handled the charade, except that this time he did not appear in person, claiming he was held up in a meeting. Upon arrival at the Police Headquarters, after being subjected to needless delays, it quickly became clear that what they had set up was nothing more than a soap opera.
This time, their obsession was with SaharaReporters Media. They had approached the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to obtain documents relating to the SaharaReporters Media Foundation and another registered but inactive Nigerian entity, SaharaReporters Ltd.
With a police cameraman rolling, they attempted to create a spectacle, demanding that I explain the difference between these entities in the presence of my lawyer, Marshal Abubakar so that they could serve me court summons for appearance for a sham trial scheduled for next week before a federal High Court in Abuja, the team led by Supol AbdulHafiz also requested I put my explanations in writing which I declined.
The Nigeria Police Force , under Egbetokun’s illegal command, is bent on stifling Sahara Reporters because of its fearless reporting and its recent exposés on the scandals surrounding him regarding contract splitting and controversial promotions of unqualified senior police officers in dalliances with him.
Fakorede himself appeared personally aggrieved. He was visibly livid that Sahara Reporters had described his controversial promotion to the rank of Commissioner of Police as questionable. He also complained bitterly that Sahara Reporters’ reporting of his intervention in the recent Park Estate matter was an attempt to embarrass him.
But this is not new. I reminded them that Sahara Reporters has always done what it was established to do, speak truth to power without fear.
Fakorede himself confessed that his grudge dates back to reporting during his infamous tenure in Rivers State as SARS commander, when his unit’s record of brutality was consistently exposed on Sahara Reporters. On that basis alone, his first question to me during my unlawful detention last week was why Sahara Reporters had published so many negative stories about him. I told him then, and I repeat here today, that promotions built on impunity cannot last forever.
I also reminded them of history. Former President Muhammadu Buhari, his Chief of Staff Abba Kyari, and their staunch ally Isa Funtua (all now late) pursued a similar mission against me and Sahara Reporters, leading to bogus charges of TREASON that were later withdrawn.
One of the notable angers then against me was that I constantly revealed on Sahara Reporters, the health condition of Mr. Buhari and the MTN bribery scandal of Abba Kyari, for Isa Funtua, it was his dalliances with former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele. Emefiele personally also pursued his personal vendetta against me and Sahara Reporters for exposing in May 2019 a phone conversation of he (Emefiele; his deputy, Edward Lametek Adamu; Director for Finance Dayo M. Arowosegbe including one of the Special Advisers to the CBN Governor, Emmanuel Ukeje) discussing how to cover up the loss of over N500 billion stolen from the CBN in a private investment that went bust.
They all failed.
Like the French Bourbons, Egbetokun and his ilk, along with Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. They are repeating the same doomed strategy.
Their so-called legal case has already begun to collapse under its own weight. Just last week, their attempt at arraignment failed because their prosecutors could not even prove evidence of service to Sahara Reporters. Today’s fresh “interview” was staged to try to force service of court summons on me on behalf of Sahara Reporters. I pointed out again today what they already know, which is that Sahara Reporters is a U.S.-registered company.
Over the years, the Nigerian state has tried to use government ministers, pastors, and even diplomats to sue Sahara Reporters in U.S. courts. Every attempt has failed. Unlike in Nigeria, judges in the United States cannot be intimidated, coerced, or bribed into submission. This current witch-hunt is nothing more than another wild goose chase.
The desperation is so brazen that after my unlawful detention last week, Fakorede himself sat with us twice in the presence of my lawyers. He offered a back-door deal. According to him, if I agreed to make “peace” with Egbetokun, he would ensure that my illegally seized passport is returned and that all the bogus charges filed against me are withdrawn. This speaks to the influence they wield on judges who brazenly do their bidding to subvert the course of justice.
He even suggested arranging a meeting with Egbetokun to seal this so-called ‘peace.’
I rejected it outright. I am not interested in peace built on blackmail and illegality. I am interested only in justice, which is how to improve the Nigeria Police Force by providing better conditions of service for serving police officers and engaging in serious police work. I also told them that police leadership must sanitize its ranks and exit the poor pension administration that has brought misery and death to retired police officers.
But I made it clear that I will never meet with Kayode Egbetokun. because, as far as I am concerned, he ceased to be the legitimate Inspector General of Police in Nigeria when he reached the statutory retirement age of 60 back in September 2024.
Any attempt to retain him in that position is unlawful, and I refuse to dignify such illegality by recognizing him.
For me, this is not merely about personal persecution. It is about the continued attempt by the Nigerian state to muzzle the press, particularly by criminalising free speech and suppressing citizens’ right to express the truth.
Sahara Reporters has faced this before under Muhammadu Buhari, a former Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki even went as far seizing funds meant for operating Sahara Reporters using a State High Court judge in Kwara State, I also reminded them that the DSS and Police officers stood guard at the Lagos offices of Sahara Reporters Reporters Media Foundation for three straight years between 2019 and 2022 while a judge restricted me to Abuja. Sahara Reporters continues to face challenges under the leadership of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. But as always, the platform remains undeterred.
The Nigerian government, through its Nigeria Police Force or other security agencies, may try every trick in the book. They may send their Monitoring Unit, their compromised prosecutors, or even deploy their old tactics of intimidation, detention, torture, and ceaseless harassment.
They may propose sham “peace” deals or attempt to wear us down with bogus charges. But as I told Fakorede to his face many times, impunity does not last forever!
IT NEVER WILL!
#RevolutionNow
