BOKO HARAM: SALKIDA RELEASED AFTER QUESTIONING
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Salkida was arrested when he arrived
in the capital Abuja on a flight from the United Arab Emirates on Monday.
The report also said he had since
sent a text message to the broadcaster’s Hausa-language service saying he was
“released in less than 24 hours without any conditions”.
He also denied being arrested at the
airport, saying he had been given a “pre-arranged lift” by the authorities,
whom he said misunderstood the role of journalists in reporting the conflict.
The army, which also denied the
arrest, said on August 15 it wanted to speak to the journalist, after he
tweeted about a new video of the captured schoolgirls before it was published
on YouTube.
Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman
said at the time there was “no doubt” the reporter and two other individuals
“have links with Boko Haram terrorists and have contacts with them”.
Salkida has reported extensively on
Boko Haram over the last 10 years and is believed to have high-level contacts
within the group and previously been involved in talks to free the remaining
218 kidnapped girls from the Borno state town of Chibok. He has maintained he
has done nothing wrong and that he was prepared to return to Nigeria to speak
to the authorities. Since August, there have been other arrests of high-profile
journalists and political commentators in Nigeria.
Iroegbu Emenike, another journalist,
was arrested this week and released on Wednesday, said human rights activist
Inibehe Effiong.
He was arrested “over alleged
defamatory publications,” Effiong said. “Following our intervention with the
support of the media he has just been released from the custody.”
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