The Nigeria Police Force have denied reports that its officers attacked journalists and other members of the press covering the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.
Benjamin Hundeyin, the Force Public Relations Officer while speaking during an interview on News Central Television said that the police and members of the press are partners and work together.
He said, “There have been no attack on journalists, I know for a fact that a few people were arrested this morning and when it turned out that one of them was a journalist, that journalist was released immediately.
“Journalists and the press have nothing to fear and the police has no intention of attacking the press,” Hundeyin said.
Hundeyin’s denial comes on the heels of the arrest of two AFP journalists – Nicholas Roll, an American and John, a Nigerian. Both journalists were arrested in Abuja during the protest led by Omoyele Sowore, an activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters.
In addition to the arrest of the duo, some security officers were captured in a video attacking journalists and staff of News Central Television who were covering the protest.
In the video which was played for the FPRO during the interview, the officers were seen harassing the staff of News Central who were in their official branded vehicle. They were also captured slapping the journalists despite the visible indications that they are members of the press.
Reacting to the video evidence, Hundeyin said, “Well I am seeing this, just now for the first time and I can say that we have no reason to suppress the press. And this will be investigated.
“For journalists, for press, they are partners with the police and when we have cases like this and there are barricades, even when journalists are coming to cover an event, they also need to reschedule soect these barricades where they can zoom in and take their videos from afar,” he added.
He also reiterated that the Police will launch an investigation to determine whatbvv v could have ensued between the officer and the affected press team.