A Nigerian newspaper whose editor and a reporter were abducted this morning by security operatives has issued a demand for their immediate release. In a statement released in Kaduna, North-West Nigeria, Malam Ibrahim Musa, Editor-in-Chief of the Hausa Language newspaper Al-Mizan, decried the abduction of Editor Musa Muhammad Awwal and Reporter Aliyu Saleh, both of whom are being held in an unknown destination. Below is the text of Musa’s statement:

“In a clandestine operation by combined security operatives (SSS Army and MOPOL) that took place in the early hours of Monday 24th December 2012, the Editor of Al-Mizan newspaper, Malam Musa Muhammad Awwal, and a Reporter with the Newspaper, Malam Aliyu Saleh, have been whisked away to an unknown destination.
“The security operatives, some of whom were dressed in military uniforms clampdown on the house of Malam Aliyu Saleh located at Rigasa Kaduna, where they ordered all the people in the compound including women and children to lay flat on the ground despite the cold weather. Malam Aliyu was brutally beaten by the security operatives. They were carrying sophisticated weapons and detectors and they seized their cell phones after harassing them.

“They searched every nook and corner in the house without coming up with anything having not presented any search warrant to their victim.

“They whisked away Malam Aliyu Saleh without any arrest warrant, and his wife and went to the house of Malam Musa located close to Makarfi road by Nnamdi Azikiwe way. There, the security operatives harassed his wife and beat her up, his son was beaten despite his deteriorating health condition and they also took away cell phones and undisclosed amounts of money. They whisked away Malam Musa Awwal without any arrest warrant as well after thoroughly searching his house and his car.
“The wife of Malam Aliyu was later dropped along Makarfi road while they did go away with the two journalists, Malam Musa Muhammad Awwal and Malam Aliyu Saleh in separate vehicles.
“The wives and children of the affected journalist have confirmed the incident mentioning that the sophisticatedly armed security operatives numbered more than 40 in vehicles numbering more than ten including an amoured vehicle stationed in strategic locations around the area.

“Meanwhile, all security points visited have refused to officially confirm the incident although some of the personnel confirmed knowledge of the incident asking for anonymity.
“Although it is not clear why they have been arrested, however it might not be unconnected with the lead story of the current edition of the Al-Mizan Newspaper which revealed the atrocities of the Joint Task Force in Potiskum in which 84 persons have been abducted.
“The way and manner those charged with managing insecurity in the troubled areas are operating is not encouraging at all because of the way and manner they heighten tension and violate the civil rights of their victims.
“On behalf of the I.M. Publications, publishers of Al-Mizan Newspaper, we hereby call for the immediate and unconditional release of our staff whose arrest has violated due process and their individual human rights.
“We shall not relent in all efforts of making this issue publicized all over the world which will subsequently reveal the inadequacies of the security operatives. We hereby call on the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Guild of Editors, Press Union of the Islamic World, Human and Civil Rights groups as well as all concerned and well meaning personalities that believe in fairness and justice to humanity to outrightly denounce this atrocity perpetrated by security personnel in the name of providing security.”

•Photo: The abducted Reporter, Malam Aliyu Saleh.