Kwara journalist raises alarm over threat to kill him and family

A journalist from Kwara, Usman Haruna, is sounding the alarm after he got a text message threatening him and his family with “very brutal things.”

Mr Haruna, who is the Editor-in-Chief of NupekoTV, told PREMIUM TIMES that he received the message around 8:35 p.m. on 23 August while he was in Ilorin.

The sender called himself “Biggy from Temidire” and said he had been watching Mr Haruna and his family for four days.

PREMIUM TIMES looked at the text message sent to Mr Haruna.

The message reads: “GOOD DAY SIR WITH HONOR SIR I WILL LOVE TO GIVE THIS GRACE SIR WITH RESPECT CAUSE YOU ARE NOT AWARE OF WHAT IS GOING ON OVER 4DAYS NW I HAVE MAKE ENOUGH INVESTIGATION ABOUT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY MR HARUNA USMAN.”

The sender claimed that his associates had been following Mr Haruna and that two unknown men had given him details to attack him and his family.

“THE ISSUE IS THAT, THERE ARE 2 MEN WHO BRING MY BOYS UR DETAILS FOR ME TO DO U AND UR FAMILY VERY BRUTAL THINGS THEY WANT U DOWN AND UR FAMILY TO BE HURT,” the message continued.

The sender urged Mr Haruna to call him and warned him not to “play smart.”

“I DONT WANT U TO PLAY SMART WITH ME MR HARUNA CALL ME IT BIGGY FROM TEMIDIRE,” he wrote.

Mr Haruna said he did not reply to the message and has not heard from the sender since then.

Why he suspects threat

Mr Haruna said he first thought the message was random but became worried due to his journalism work.

He mentioned that NupekoTV often reports on kidnapping, banditry, governance, and development. He added that some people have tried to pressure him to stop certain reports.

“Some individuals will call us and then there are instances where we are being instructed to take down the kind of reports that we do. Though we refused, we still continue,” he told PREMIUM TIMES.

He noted that people who contacted him before included community leaders and others who were unhappy with some reports from his station.

Mr Haruna said he could not tell who was behind the latest threat.

“I felt like it could just be random stuff, but on the other hand, we felt we should not take it lightly,” he said.

He pointed out that the message included details about his family and where they lived, which made him worry that the sender might be telling the truth about monitoring them.

Previous intimidation

Mr Haruna said this latest threat came after other times when he and his media organization faced pressure over their reporting.

He remembered that weeks before the threatening message, NupekoTV shared pictures of a run-down secondary school in his community.

This report led to calls demanding that it be taken down.

He also recalled an event in February when he joined a protest in Kwara State as an individual.

Mr Haruna said his involvement led to pressure from a community and sociocultural group he worked with.

He said he was suspended for three months, even after explaining that he attended the protest in a personal capacity and did not represent the organization.

He mentioned that he was not reinstated after his suspension ended.

Petition to authorities

Mr Haruna has reported the threat to security agencies and is getting ready to file formal complaints with the police and the State Security Services (SSS).

He wants the authorities to find out who the sender is, check if the claims about surveillance are real, and look into the identities of the two people mentioned in the message.

“I don’t know him or the two men he mentioned,” Mr Haruna said in an earlier conversation with PREMIUM TIMES.

He emphasized that he was not accusing anyone since he did not have proof linking anyone to the threat.

Need for investigation

For Mr Haruna, the main worry is to find out if the threatening message was a real warning or just an intimidation tactic.

He said he kept the message and is helping to trace its source.

The journalist hopes the police and SSS will look into the situation and see if his work as a journalist is related to the threat.

He also encouraged other journalists facing similar threats to take them seriously and report them to the right authorities.