A hotel operator in Kaduna, Mr Victor Balogun, has been arraigned before an Upper Customary Court sitting in Television Settlement for allegedly issuing threats to a journalist over a published report on a security operation at his facility.
Balogun, proprietor of De Jay’s Guest Inn located in Ungwan Boro, was brought before the court on Monday, August 18, 2025, following a First Information Report (FIR) lodged at the Sabon Tasha Divisional Police Headquarters.
The FIR, signed by Inspector Bulus Alamu, accused the hotelier of criminal intimidation of a journalist, Mr Idibia Ude Gabriel, who authored a news report on a joint security raid at the hotel.
According to the police, the defendant allegedly phoned the journalist after the publication went viral and threatened him if he failed to retract the report and “redeem the image” of the hotel.
“He told me I would see what he could do and that he could be dangerous,” Gabriel stated in his complaint to the police.
The controversial report, titled “Kaduna: Security Operatives Raid Hotels, Arrest Dozens of Suspects”, was first published on June 26, 2025. It detailed how a Special Joint Task Force allegedly stormed several hotels in Kaduna, including De Jay’s Guest Inn, arresting dozens of suspected drug users, internet fraudsters and other alleged criminals.
Eyewitnesses quoted in the report claimed that operatives forced their way into the premises around 8:00 p.m., arrested guests and allegedly brutalised some hotel staff who resisted. They also alleged that drugs were recovered from some suspects and that security personnel forcefully entered a guest room belonging to a regular lodger identified as Jessy after he declined to open his door.
Gabriel told the police that the threats intensified after several online platforms republished his report.
Balogun is now standing trial on charges bordering on criminal intimidation for allegedly attempting to silence the journalist.