Why I was arrested while investigating oil bunkering – Fisayo Soyombo

Why I was arrested while investigating oil bunkering – Fisayo Soyombo

Popular investigative journalist Fisayo Soyombo has shared details of his undercover operation after his release by the Nigerian army.

Soyombo’s release on Friday evening was revealed following outcry from members of the public and he was quick to express gratitude to Nigerians.

Revealing that he was involved in an undercover investigation on oil bunkering in an interview with Arise TV, the reporter said his arrest was because someone in the security setup was offended because he was not offered a bribe.

“Everyone other than the Nigerian army already knows what happened. I’m an investigative and undercover journalist. I was investigating illegal oil bunkering.

“It happened that, you know, it’s a complex story. It happened that someone in the security setup was offended that he didn’t get bribed. Because the illegal bunkerers would bribe people in security.

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“For now, I don’t want to be specific. But they would bribe and one got annoyed and tipped off others to say something is happening there. So they came.

“Everyone else ran away other than me. I came forward, I had an interaction with them. So, one, there was no arrest. The Nigerian army did not arrest me.

“They spotted me, flashed their touch, and I came out. And I wanted to open a conversation with them,” Soyombo said.

“The grouse of the army, the real grouse of the army is that I did not carry them along. I won’t deny that I have low trust for Nigerian public institutions… I didn’t trust the army. I didn’t carry them along.

“But I had also known that illegal oil bunkerers were bribing different people in various security formations. And I would endanger my life by carrying them along,” he added.

 

Why I was arrested while investigating oil bunkering – Fisayo Soyombo