Nigerian who tweet pictures of Boko Haram attempted jail break arrested or missing-- Family Asks

A Nigerian man who tweeted
pictures of an attempted jail break at the
country's intelligence agency headquarters
has been arrested and held incommunicado
for 11 days, his family said Thursday. The head of the National Human Rights
Commission, Chidi Odinkalu, told AFP that his
office was investigating the alleged
disappearance of 32-year-old Yusuf Siyaka
Onimisi. Reports suggested Boko Haram militants
were among the detainees trying to escape
but there has been no official confirmation of
the group's involvement. Onimisi works for Nigeria's national
electricity firm and was assigned to a sub-
station within the presidential compound in
the capital, Abuja, according to his brother,
Yusuf Sanusi. The presidency is near the Directorate of
State Services (DSS) headquarters where the
agency said there was an attempted jail
break on March 30, sparking a gun battle that
killed 21 detainees. On the day of the attack, Onimisi was at
work and "called me to say there is
gunshots and he is not sure what is
happening", said Sanusi, explaining that his
brother had decided to walk towards the
shooting to get a closer look. When Sanusi called back some time later, his
brother was unreachable and so he asked a
mutual friend in Abuja to check that he was
safe. Colleagues at the power firm reported back
that Onimisi had been arrested for
"snapping pics (of the shooting) and taking
shots and putting them on Twitter",
according to Sanusi. His Twitter timeline on his account @ciaxon
showed initial tweets describing the sound of
gunshots around the presidency. Four
photographs appeared to show the military
response to the incident. Two appeared to show soldiers lying in the
undergrowth; another a deserted street
outside the presidential residence; and a
fourth of what seemed to be a soldier
crouching behind a vehicle for cover. "I'm snapping from d basement cos my
office is directly at the gate 7!" he tells his
followers, going on to describe helicopters
overhead and what he said was the capture
of detainees. He did not appear critical of the operation,
writing in one tweet: "as far as am
concerned, Nigerian soldiers are the best!
They are good! They have done a very gr8
job!" DSS spokeswoman Marylin Ogar did not
respond to phone calls or text messages
seeking comment. Onimisi's alleged arrest has sparked an
intense reaction on Twitter, including a
hashtag dedicated to the case, #freeCiaxon. Sanusi said that even if
his brother broke the
law by tweeting pictures from a high-
security zone without consent, the family
was entitled to information about his
condition. "I am helpless. I don't know who to
contact. Is he alive or dead?" he asked. Nigeria's security forces,
including the
secret police, have frequently cited national
security concerns as justification for
arresting or intimidating people who publish
sensitive material. Reporters Without Borders ranked the
country 112th out of 180 countries worldwide
in its 2014 Press Freedom Index. Censorship and crackdowns have typically
targeted reporters working in older media,
like newspapers or television. But the government has increasingly
responded to sensitive reports published
exclusively online.

Posted by Chrisray

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