Abuja – The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has charged Isaac Bristol Tamunobifiri, an undercover journalist better known as PIDOM, to court.
According to a court file, PIDOM was charged to the Federal High Court, Abuja on a nine-count charge.
“That you Bristol Tamunobifiri ‘M’ 41 years of No. 36 Hardy Avenue, Port Harcourt, Rivers State in Nigeria within this Honourable court sometime between June and July, 2024 within the jurisdiction of the Honourable transmitted an alleged classified document of the Federal Government of Nigeria by means of X handle @Pidomnigeria with username #99%opressed wherein you knowingly sent a false message to with: See the document below wherein Tinubu released the sum of N24, 143, 494, 567. 32 billion Naira to NAHCON Chairman through Shettima’s office. Because Nigerians didn’t react enough, they went back and increased it to a whopping Ninety Billion Naira. ‘Saraka’ for the men. Free money with the intentional of causing the breakdown of law and order and you hereby commit an offence contrary to section 24 (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Prevention etc) Act 2015 as amended 2024, ” one of the counts read.
Count 1 of the charges read that Bristol “mobilized” and “solicited” support in order to “compel” the government to act or abstain from certain acts through the #EndBadGovernance protest.
Count 2 states that PIDOMNigeria disseminated false money-laundering allegations against President Bola Tinubu, while charges 3,4 and 5 state that he unlawfully obtained, retained and disseminated classified secret documents in contravention of the official Secret Act 1962.
Count 6, 7 and 8 allege that Bristol obtained moneys, “intentionally, knowingly or he ought to have known” that such funds were proceeds of, or part of a proceeds of an unlawful act, and is therefore, guilty of money-laundering.
Count 9 accuses PIDOMNigeria of destroying evidence that could have been used against him in court by destroying and trying to flush his Techno Phantom 6.
Tamunobiefiri operates as an anonymous whistleblower on X.com, 99% Oppressed, and posts as @PIDOMNIGERIA.
The police had said PIDOMNigeria was arrested on August 5 in his hotel room in Rivers State.
KOIKI Media had reported that investigative journalist David Hundeyin reported PIDOMNigeria had been missing since August 5 after an associate of PIDOM contacted him.
Hundeyin’s comment generated a massive outcry on social media, with a campaign launched to demand the whereabouts of PIDOMNigeria using hashtags like #PIDOM, #FreePidom, and #WhereisPidom, among others.
On Friday, 23 August, an intervention team involving Omoyele Sowore, David Hundeyin, Raphael Adebayo, Deji Adeyanju and Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), was able to establish that the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) housed Bristol after the National Cybercrime Center (NCCC) tracked and abducted him from a location in Nigeria’s southeast.
Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the Nigerian Police Force, Isaac told representatives of the team that the police abducted and kept him in solitary confinement for at least six days in an anti-kidnapping unit before transferring him to a different facility.
He was later transferred to the Force Criminal Investigation Department custody.
Nigeria is well known for incarcerating journalists discharging their job – especially those who report about corruption activities, abuse of power, crime against humanity and other investigations.