Armed soldiers stormed the popular newspaper distribution centre located along Emir’s Road, Ilorin Friday morning looking for some newspapers they claimed they had orders ‘from above’ to seize.

However, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) vowed to mobilise Nigerians against the development which it said could be a prelude to the clampdown on the media in contradiction of the various charters on human rights that Nigeria is signatory to.

National Vice President of the Committee, Comrade Taiwo Otitolaiye expressed dismay over the turn of events by the government saying the federal government should concentrate on using the military to tackle the raging insurgency in the northern part of the country instead of using them to muzzle the media.

The operation also extended to other parts of the metropolis as nearly all the distribution vans conveying Friday’s edition of several newspapers were stopped at Eiyenkorin area or on the Ilorin-Ogbomosho expressway. The drivers of the vans were detained and their phones seized.

The driver who drove a consignment of The Nation newspaper and that of The Sun were still being detained by the soldiers beside the road as at the time of filing this report.

About seven soldiers carried out the operation at Emir’s Road and about the same number were spotted at the old Ilorin-Ogbomosho Road and the Ilorin –Ogbomosho Expressway too when our reporter went there. They did not allow anyone to speak with the ‘detained’ drivers. They were still in the three locations as at the time of filing this report.

In an online post, The Nation had also complained that there newspaper operations in Edo State were compromised following a crackdown by soldiers, who visited there office and tried to impound the newspaper.