Abducted Editor Asthmatic, family Laments
The family of the abducted editor of FirstNews, Mr Segun Olatunji, has pleaded for his release, saying he is asthmatic.
Olatunji, a former Kaduna State correspondent of The PUNCH, was on Friday picked up in his Lagos home in Iyana Odo, Abule Egba area of Lagos.
His wife, Mrs Oluwatosin Olatunji, said her husband also had an ulcer, adding that he was a calm and diligent journalist.
Fifty-three-year-old Oluwatosin, a mother of five, said, “My husband is diligent in his work; he is not troublesome, he is always engrossed in his job and works till midnight. He doesn’t go to parties, he doesn’t drink.
“The government should help me; I have been weak and sick since he was abducted. They should bring him back alive because he has some health issues. He uses an inhaler, and he has an ulcer too. Well-meaning Nigerians and the government should help me bring out my husband alive. The government should have mercy on me because we can’t even say anything about his whereabouts. He is my friend, confidant, father, everything.”
Similarly, the Nigeria Union of Journalists demanded the editor’s immediate and unconditional release.
A statement signed by the union’s Assistant National Secretary, Akorede Opeyemi, on Tuesday, described Olatunji’s abduction as another threat to freedom of the press.