After spending 61 days in police and prison custody, Nigerian investigative journalist and publisher of Secret Reporters, Fejiro Oliver, has been released.
His freedom was confirmed on Tuesday by his lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who said Oliver was freed on Tuesday morning.
Oliver had been in detention since September 18, 2025, over publications allegedly critical of Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, Senator Joel Onowakpo Thomas, Senator Ede Dafinone, and Stella Okotete.
Despite his release, Oliver still faces multiple criminal and civil cases.
According to Effiong, the Inspector General of Police has filed two cybercrime charges against Oliver at the Federal High Court in Asaba, while the Attorney General of Delta State has also instituted two separate defamation cases at the Magistrate’s Court in Asaba. All the cases are still pending
Recall that on October 28, 2025, newsmen reported that an Asaba Magistrates’ Court granted Oliver bail in the two defamation cases filed by the Delta State government.
The charges, marked CMA/529C/2025 and CMA/530C/2025, were filed by the state’s Attorney General. They accused Oliver of defaming Senator Joel Onowakpo Thomas, who represents Delta South Senatorial District, and Stella Okotete, an Executive Director at the Nigerian Export-Import Bank.
In one of the charges, Oliver was alleged to have described Senator Onowakpo as a “blockhead senator” and “politically useless.”
In the other, he was accused of publishing defamatory material against Okotete, whose ministerial nomination by President Bola Tinubu had earlier been rejected by the Senate.
Two different Magistrates presiding over the matters granted Oliver bail under stringent conditions.
Each court ordered him to produce a surety with landed property within the court’s jurisdiction and to deposit his international passport.
One of the Magistrates further directed that a second surety must be a close relative of Oliver.
At the Tuesday proceedings, Austin Nyekigbe, Esq., from a defence team led by human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong, appeared for Oliver, while the state was represented by the Director of Public Prosecutions, A. O. Orhorhoro, Esq., alongside T. R. Anuhwin, Esq.
Effiong explained the bail terms, saying both Magistrates insisted on a surety with landed property and the surrender of Oliver’s passport, with one adding the extra requirement of a close relative as second surety.
