The Delta State Police Command is plotting to re-arrest investigative journalist Fejiro Oliver born Tega Oghenedoro on Thursday, even as he is set to appear before a court in Asaba for his bail hearing, Peoples Gazette has learnt.

Impeccable police sources familiar with the matter told The Gazette that plans are underway to file fresh “bogus” charges against Mr Oliver, whose prolonged detention followed petitions by Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.

According to police insiders who spoke to The Gazette, the command is preparing to re-arrest Mr Oliver in court on Thursday, shortly after his bail arguments are heard over fresh petitions by a former ministerial nominee Stella Okotete, and Senator Ede Dafinone.

“The plan is to file additional charges so that even if the court grants him bail, he would be re-arrested and detained,” one senior police source said. “These new charges are based on fresh petitions from Stella Okotete and Senator Dafinone.”

The sources described the move as a “coordinated attempt to keep him in perpetual detention” despite his lawyers’ readiness to meet any bail conditions set by the court.

Ms Okotete, a former executive director of Business Development at the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), was one of several prominent Delta figures who petitioned the police against the journalist.

She accused Mr Oliver of publishing reports that linked her to an alleged investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) — stories which, she claimed, contributed to her rejected ministerial nomination by the Senate in 2023.

She has since blamed the Secret Reporters publisher for what she called “false and malicious publications” that “destroyed her reputation.”

Mr Oliver — born Tega Oghenedoro and publisher of Secret Reporters — has been in police custody for over two weeks, following his abduction in Abuja on September 18, 2025, and subsequent transfer to Delta State aboard a private jet linked to Governor Oborevwori.

He was later detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Asaba, where police accused him of cyberstalking and “publishing false and defamatory statements” about the governor and other political figures in the state.

Similarly, Senator Ede Dafinone, representing Delta Central Senatorial District, also filed a petition accusing Mr Oliver of cyberstalking and making “defamatory Facebook posts.”

The police subsequently charged the journalist with violating Section 24(2)(c)(ii) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 (as amended) — the same provision routinely used by Nigerian authorities to clamp down on journalists and online critics.

In one of the charges reviewed by The Gazette, Mr Oliver was accused of referring to Mr Dafinone as a “sleeping senator,” “POS senator,” and “scammer in NASS.”

Mr Oliver has now spent over two weeks in police custody without trial, in what rights advocates have described as a flagrant abuse of due process.

Last week, the Federal High Court in Asaba, presided over by Justice F. A. Olubanjo, ordered the Nigeria Police Force to show cause within 48 hours why the journalist should not be released unconditionally after spending 16 days in detention.

His lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who filed the ex parte application that led to the court’s order, condemned the ongoing attempts to keep his client incarcerated.