The Nation Reporter Gets Death Threats Over Publication On Warri Kingdom Crisis

The South-south Regional Editor of The Nation newspaper, Mr. Shola O’Neil, has raised the alarm over threats to his life by some faceless youths in Warri Kingdom.

The Nation reports that the threats followed a news feature titled “Trouble in Warri Kingdom” that O’Neil authored on the succession battle for the stool of Olu of Warri, published on Sunday, 21 March 2021.

According to him, callers, using hidden numbers, are inundating his mobile telephone line since the report was published.

The callers, he said, threatened to deal with him and his family for exposing happenings in their kingdom and the passing away of the 20th Olu, Ogiame Ikenwoli.

He said, “It is true that my telephone lines have not stopped ringing since Sunday. The threats are coming mostly from private numbers and concerned Itsekiri friends who advised me to be careful and to avoid certain parts of the oil city.”

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“Some of the callers expressed ‘disappointment’ at me for doing the report. But there were also others who commended me for the boldness to treat the subject without fear or favour.”

Apart from the threats, Mr. O’Neil said that some prominent Itsekiri leaders also called him to express their displeasure with the publication.

He said, “All the well-known Itsekiri chiefs and leaders who called were civil even while disagreeing with some parts of the report they deemed as sacrilegious.

“The threats have been from those hiding under cover to issue threats. A former Itsekiri youth leader was very antagonistic, even asking who gave me “authority to write such a nonsense report.”