BREAKING: Nigerian Police Arrest Journalist Hassan Yelwa While Covering Shiite Maulid Procession In Abuja

The Nigerian police on Tuesday arrested Nasir Hassan Yelwa, a journalist and member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), while he was covering a public Maulid procession in Abuja.

SaharaReporters gathered that the demonstration was organised by members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), popularly called Shiites, alongside other Muslim worshippers to mark the Maulid, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad.

An eyewitness told SaharaReporters that Yelwa was invited to cover the peaceful procession but was picked up by policemen in the Apo area of the capital around 2 p.m.

“Police arrested Nasir Hassan Yelwa, a journalist and member of NUJ, today at Apo area during the Maulid protest. He was arrested after covering the Maulid procession by 2 p.m. He is presently detained at Abattoir (the former SARS office),” the source said.

In a similar development, Ekiti State Police Command had also summoned Fisayo Soyombo, founder and editor-in-chief of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), for interrogation over allegations of conspiracy, criminal defamation, cyberbullying, and blackmail.

FIJ disclosed that the invitation came barely an hour before the release of its senior reporter, Sodeeq Atanda, who had been detained and grilled by the police for about 11 hours on Tuesday.

Atanda had earlier been invited on September 1 to answer questions bordering on “malicious misrepresentation” and similar allegations.

In the fresh letter addressed to the newsroom, Musa Hadi, Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Intelligence Department (SID), directed Soyombo to appear at the state headquarters in Ado-Ekiti on September 15, stating that his name had come up in an ongoing investigation.

FIJ observed that the so-called probe is linked to its series of hard-hitting reports exposing sexual misconduct allegations against Abayomi Fasina, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), who is currently on leave — a development that sources told SaharaReporters amounts to a suspension.

The reports detailed Fasina’s alleged harassment of Folasade Adebayo, a serving director at the university.

“This office is investigating case [sic] of conspiracy, criminal defamation, blackmailing and cyber-bullying in which your name featured,” the invite read.

“You are kindly requested to interview the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command, on 15th September, 2025, at 12:00 noon through the Assistant Commissioner of Police, in charge of State Intelligence Department (SID), Police State Headquarters, Ado-Ekiti.”