All the information I shared with soldiers were passed on to oil thieves – Soyombo
By Emma Ogbuehi
Investigative journalist and founder of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), Fisayo Soyombo, has revealed that all the information he shared with army personnel during his interrogation were disclosed to suspected oil thieves, compromising his safety.
Speaking on Arise TV on Saturday, Soyombo said he was arrested while conducting an undercover investigation.
He revealed that he had been investigating the complex security network that protects illegal oil bunkers.
His words: “How can you grill me at the 6 division and everything I told you, the illegal bunkerers were telling me. Every single thing.
“The real grouse of the army is that one, I did not carry them along. I would not deny that I have low trust for Nigerian public institutions.
“A small two-minute diversion. Last year, I did an undercover investigation on an orphanage selling babies. I bought a new born baby for N2 million. I took the baby to NAPTIP, I looked after that baby.
“After I handed over the baby to NAPTIP, I sent a representative to go there every month. Her birthday, we bought a gift, Christmas same. We woke up one day, and NAPTIP shut the door on us.”
Soyombo also expressed concern for his safety, claiming the Nigerian Army compromised it by linking him to oil bunkering to justify his arrest during an undercover investigation in Rivers State.
“I will be honest, it is the first time I have genuinely felt my security compromised. I believe the army deliberately – the acting spokesman of the Nigerian army deliberately compromised my security by releasing that statement and linking me to oil bunkerers. I was in detention, I made no mention of oil bunkering, now you’ve gone to tell illegal bunkerers that ‘look, this guy was on your trail,” he stated.
He noted that if his detention had not been widely reported in the media, he might have been held indefinitely. “If not for the plans I had made before embarking on the story, my organisation (FIJ) would not have known my location. That technology enabled my release. Otherwise, I could still be in detention—even for two months.”
