By our reporter
Kaduna-based investigative reporter and multiple Award-winning journalist, Mr. Idibia Gabriel, who is in court with a hotelier over the latter’s alleged threat to his life, has appealed to the State police command to urgently retrieve from telecoms service provider, MTN, the vital audio threat evidence in the matter ahead of the court’s next sitting on 24 November, 2025.
The appeal was contained in a statement to the Command’s spokesman, Deputy Superintendent (DSP) Mansir Hassan, on Sunday, 3 November, and shared on journalists’ social media chat forum as well as the State Council of the umbrella Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Idibia urged the police to ensure the retrieval of the phone audio threat, stressing that failure to do so will jeopardize his case and may compel the court to strike out the matter for possible lack of diligent prosecution.
Recall that Apabout June 2025, the journalist had raised the alarm to the police of alleged threat to his life through phone call by the owner of a hotel in Kaduna for reporting a security raid on the hotel.
The journalist reported factually being an eyewitness to the raid.
In the statement, Idibia lamented that the suspect, identified as Victor Balogun, whom he described as a “big man,” rarely showed up in the court’s sittings at Magistrate Court, Sabon Tasha.
Due to the alleged threat to his life, Idibia has expressed concern for his personal safety, given that the threat is linked to his professional duties as a journalist.
He called on the authorities to ensure justice is served and to protect journalists performing their lawful duties,from harm.
