Ohu, 45, an assistant news editor for the influential private daily The Guardian, was shot by unidentified assailants as he answered a knock at the front door of his house in a northern suburb of Lagos. The six assailants took a laptop and cell phone, according to the journalist’s relatives and local news reports.
Ohu was preparing to head to church to meet his wife, and two of his five children were home at the time, local journalists told CPJ. Neighbors drove him to a local hospital, but staff refused to treat him because he was not accompanied by police, journalists and news reports said. He died before neighbors could get him to another hospital, local journalists told CPJ.
Members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists told CPJ they believe Ohu was killed for his political reporting. They said the murder may be linked to his investigation into alleged fraud in the Customs Department. He had also been reporting on Ekiti state elections, a volatile campaign that had led to several reports of anti-press violence.
In
May 2012, NUJ said a judge in the case had freed
three people charged with Ohu’s murder on the grounds that the prosecution had
failed to prove the case. NUJ said they were pushing for a renewed
investigation.