P.M.EXPRESS Crime Editor, Cyriacus Izuekwe Alleges Threat To Life By Chief Solomon Aguene 

CHUKA UBAH 

The fate of P.M.EXPRESS Crime Editor, Cyriacus Izuekwe, is uncertain following alleged threat to his life by self acclaimed Ohanaeze Ndigbo leader, Chief Solomon Aguene, in Lagos State. 

According to him, Chief Aguene was said to be angry over interviews granted by Dr Jonathan Nnaji, the BOT Chairman of the Igbo Speaking Community, which was published by P.M.EXPRESS.

He claimed that Izuekwe knew that he was so rich and since he is working with the media platform, he should not have allowed Dr Nnaji to use P.M.EXPRESS to publish the story that was against him.

He allegedly boasted that he will deal with Mr. Izuekwe with his money and connections in the Nigeria Police for allowing Dr Nnaji to use the media platform to publish the story.

Mr. Izuekwe was said to have raised the alarm because so many journalists have been killed in mysterious circumstances.

He mentioned some of journalists killed namely, Dele Giwa (1986) – Founder of Newswatch magazine, killed by a mail bomb, Tunde Oladepo (1998) – Senior correspondent with The Guardian, murdered by masked gunmen, Okezie Amarube (1998) – Publisher of Newsservice magazine, shot by a police officer, Fidelis Ikwuebe (1999) – Freelance journalist, abducted and murdered, Titus Badejo (2021) – Former presenter with Naija FM, killed by armed men, Tordue Salem(2021) – Vanguard Newspaper reporter, found dead after going missing, Maxwell Nashan (2020) – Federal Radio Corporation reporter, abducted and killed, Olubunmi Afuye (2021) – Public Relations Officer, allegedly killed by armed robbers among others.

He explained that the story in question was not written by him and there was nothing libelous about the story because Dr Nnaji, who granted the interview did not deny the publication.

Izuekwe explained that the genesis of the threat was that Chief Solomon Aguene granted interviews to different media houses and abused Dr Nnaji for calling on the Council of Ndieze to withdraw from a meeting of Ndieze, which Aguene had called to purportedly cover his untoward and illegal installation of Ndieze under his administration.

In response, Dr Nnaji granted the interview to P.M.EXPRESS with the caption, “I Don’t Join Issues With Illiterates”, which he claimed portrayed him in bad light.

Aguene was said to have used two other publications against Dr Nnaji, which he also responded to.

Izuekwe said, “Chief Aguene started threatening to deal with me and equally started making move to track me before the information leaked”.

Mr. Izuekwe said he was not afraid of the threats but raised the alarm to inform the members of the public, security agencies, journalists, friends and family members, so that if anything happens to him they should  know that he raised the alarm.

He stated that it was not the first time Aguene was using Police to arrest and harass him over unfounded allegations, which the Police at the Monitoring Unit at Kam Salem House at Obalande, Lagos later dismissed.

He explained that he had already contacted the Police high authorities over the alleged threat with evidence to support the claims.