The Nigerian military tortures its prisoners by flooding their rooms so the prisoners have to stand up for days and handcuffing them so tightly their hands bleed, a Nigerian journalist visiting the UA said yesterday.

Dapo Olorunyomi, who is in hiding because he is wanted by the military, has experienced these tortures firsthand.

He said he has lost count of how many times he has been jailed for the stories he has written.

Since Nigeria gained independence from British colonial rule in 1960, the military has repressed the media with physical force - beating and assassinating journalists - he said to about 80 students in a news and mass communications class.

And now the independent press in Nigeria is facing a new variety of repression that he believes it may not be able to withstand.

The military has begun to seize newspapers that print offensive material, Olorunyomi said.

In 1993, seven newspapers were shut down for criticizing the military and inciting people against the government, he said.

Olorunyomi's The News was one of them. It has since begun to operate underground.

Olorunyomi said that as long as the military stays in power, the abuse of the Nigerian press will only increase.

His newspaper office was bombed by the military once, he said. But he was quick to stress that newspapers are not the only victims of the repression going on in Nigeria.

The issues that Nigeria grapples with are issues that countries like the United States have long forgotten, about rights that many take for granted, he said.

"We are fighting for the right to vote and basic human rights," he said. "If Nigeria disintegrates into chaos, it will have implications on the whole world."

He said the international world should show more concern for Nigeria's troubles.

He said he is in the United States to try to persuade the country to impose stiff economic sanctions on major corporations in Nigeria.

Olorunyomi said that in 1993 an election was held, but just as the results of the elections were announced, the military voided the whole process and jailed Mashood Abiola, the president-elect and publisher of the newspaper Concord. Since his capture, Abiola's wife has continued to publish the Concord.

"Nigeria is a living example of the failure of centralized control," he said.

Olorunyomi's wife and two children remain in Nigeria. He has not seen them in nine months. The two men who helped him escape the dawn raid at his home last year and cross the border are now in jail.

He said he plans to continue publication of The News when he returns to Nigeria.

Olorunyomi was the World Press Review's 1995 International Editor of the Year, and is editor in chief of The News of Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. The award goes to a chief editor working outside the U.S. who has recognized "enterprise, courage, and leadership in advancing press freedom and responsibility, enhancing human rights and fostering excellence in journalism," according to a press release.

Olorunyomi's visit was sponsored by Amnesty International. Today he will speak at the Martin Luther King Building Student Center at 3:30 p.m. and the Franklin Building at 7 p.m.

Olorunyomi said in Nigeria, with a population of 100 million, it is easy to dissolve into the masses and do the work if you want to.

"Press freedom should be universal," he said.