Journalist Raises Alarm Over Threat To Life

A veteran journalist and political activist, Ikem Okuhu, has raised the alarm over a failed assassination attempt on his life, calling on the police to probe the incident.

Briefing newsmen yesterday in Lagos, the public relations consultant and CEO of the Lagos-based BRANDish Media, Okuhu, narrated how at about 5.30 p.m. on Friday, August 25, 2023, two men who introduced themselves as officers of the Nigerian Police, Enugu State Command, accosted him at Umabor, Eha Alumona Nsukka, “in what I saw as a broad daylight kidnap attempt”.

Giving details of what happened, Okuhu, said: “I was at Umabor for the burial of the father-in-law of my younger brother and I had gone out to make a phone call when one of these people walked up to me and started a casual conversation, but soon said he had an order to bring me to Enugu.

“I initially thought he was joking and asked him who he was and why I should follow a total stranger to Enugu. That was when he said he was a police officer and that somebody had written a petition against me. My inquiry as regards who wrote the petition and what the issue was about did not yield anything, as he was soon joined by another roughly dressed man who also claimed he was a policeman. When I asked them for identification, they refused and instead, tried to herd me to their vehicle, an ash-coloured Toyota Sienna minivan.’’

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Okuhu who stressed that he is a law-abiding citizen who has never had any brush with the law added, “I have never in all my life, had a run-in with the law. This is because I have intentionally conducted myself in ways that make that absolutely unnecessary. My career in journalism has been stainless, excellent, and development-oriented. I have never had any police record anywhere in Nigeria.

‘’ It was therefore shocking that people who claimed they were policemen could discreetly trail me to where a burial had just taken place to execute a purported arrest order, in pursuit of a petition allegedly written against me. Only people fleeing from the law for committing capital crimes are trailed and arrested this way,” he said.

“I want the world to know that my life is in danger. I want the world and Nigerian authorities to know that there are plans being hatched against me by certain people in Enugu State. I do not feel safe anymore. That is why I am crying out to Nigerians, security agencies to know of the dangers that I face as a practicing journalist and as a law-abiding citizen, a bonafide Nigerian. I have not committed any crime, except practicing my profession and telling the truth.’’