RAID ON DAILY TRUST: Army frees journalist, withholds computers, phones

The Nigerian Army on Tuesday set free the detained Maiduguri Bureau Chief of Daily Trust Newspapers, Uthman Abubakar.

The Editor-in-Chief of Daily Trust, Mannir Dan-Ali, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, but said that the mobile phones and laptop confiscated by the military during the raid of the Newspaper’s offices were yet to be released.

Abubakar had been in the custody of the military since Sunday, but Dan – Ali said he was brought back to the Maiduguri office of the newspaper by an unnamed major who handed him over to a security officer at the office.

“Abubakar said he was courteously treated, but stated that his mobile phones and laptop were still with the military. They told him that they needed time to finish the forensic checks they are carrying out on the equipment,” the statement read in part.

President Muhammadu Buhari had two days earlier ordered the military to end its siege on the office of the Daily Trust Newspaper .

The military had on Sunday laid siege to the offices of Daily Trust in Abuja , Lagos, Kaduna and Maiduguri on the allegation that the newspaper published a report that jeopardised its operation in the North- East.

READ ALSO: I am disappointed in the police- Buhari

The controversial story was about a plan by the military to attack and liberate Baga.

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