Posted by Samuel on Thu 28th Sep, 2023 - tori.ng
Hundeyin added that the situation has made him unsettled as he is forced to always be on the lookout for his safety.
David Hundeyin, a Nigerian investigative journalist, on Wednesday, told the United Nations Human Rights Council that the Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government has been taking steps to abduct him from his country of residence, Ghana.
“Earlier today at the 54th session of the @UNHumanRights Council held in Geneva, I spoke about the Nigerian regime's ongoing attempt to silence me and put an end to my journalistic work using illegal rendition and diplomatic meddling,” Hundeyin confirmed his X (formerly Twitter) handle.
In a video of the address seen by SaharaReporters, Hundeyin accused the Tinubu administration of planning to kill him if he is eventually abducted.
He said, “Thank you for the opportunity to speak at the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council.
“As an investigative journalist from Nigeria, my work primarily focuses on advancing transparency and accountability in government. I have repeatedly used my journalistic platform to expose and publicize malfeasance and criminal behaviour by powerful people in Nigeria, most recently the new Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, an individual whose FBI file of over 2,500 pages is set to be released publicly for the first time next month and who has as a matter of public record forfeited $460,000 to the United States government being proceeds of heroin trafficking.
“Due to my journalistic work, his regime has taken extraordinary steps to silence me including a recent attempted abduction from Ghana where I have political asylum. The terrible regime is currently trying to prevail on Ghana which historically is a close ally of Nigeria to violate the non-reforming principle and have me return to Nigeria where I would almost certainly face imprisonment, torture, and extrajudicial execution.”
Hundeyin added that the situation has made him unsettled as he is forced to always be on the lookout for his safety.
He continued: “To save my life and the important work that I do. I have been forced into a semi-nomadic lifestyle where I am really sleeping in one place for a prolonged period of time. In fact, it is from one of these temporary locations that I'm filming this message.
“Under Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and as a journalist, I must be able to do my work without living in fear or living on the run simply because I’m doing my job.”
SaharaReporters earlier reported that Hundeyin had raised the alarm, saying Tinubu should be held responsible if anything happened to him (David) or if he died.
Hundeyin, who said this in a video he personally posted on X platform (formerly Twitter) last week, alleged that President Tinubu was after his life because he revealed the President was allegedly a drug trafficker and certificate forger, which according to him, unveiled Tinubu’s fake reputation.
The journalist who fled Nigeria to Ghana in 2020 and was granted asylum and refugee status in 2022 alleged that Tinubu was using security intelligence to mount pressure on the Ghanaian government to repatriate him to Nigeria and get him killed.