The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and secure the release of Segun Olatunji, the editor of FirstNews.

SERAP has issued a warning that failure to release Olatunji within 48 hours will result in legal action being taken against the President.

In a post on X, SERAP stated: “BREAKING: The Tinubu administration must immediately release Segun Olatunji, editor of FirstNews who was reportedly arrested in Lagos by the military. Journalists should never be arrested for doing their job. We’ll see in court if he is not released within 48 hours. @officialABAT”

Olatunji was recently abducted from his residence in the Iyana Odo, Abule Egba area of Lagos State by gunmen suspected to be soldiers.

The management of the online newspaper released a statement on Saturday, linking the abduction to a recent article published by FirstNews titled “Revealed: “Defence Chief running office like family business – Public Interest Lawyers,” which was also published by several other online platforms.

The management further connected Olatunji’s abduction to another report titled “EXCLUSIVE: How contractor, company stole N100bn, laundered funds for top govt officials – Investigation,” which was later taken down.