Journalists have a duty to report goings on in society. However, in recent time, they have been the subject of direct attacks especially by state actors. PAUL OMOROGBE writes on this and the outcry it has elicited.
When Mojeed Abdulkareem, a journalist with Premium Times, eventually returned home safely to his family after setting out to cover the #Endbadgovernance protest on Saturday, August 3, he had so much to thank God for. “I had witnessed high-speed chases and intense shootouts only in action movies until Saturday when my colleagues and I found ourselves in the middle of a harrowing, real-life experience while covering an anti-government protest in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital,” he said.
A national protest had been planned to take place for 10 days beginning on Thursday, August 1. The protest was organised to lament the living conditions Nigerians have been subjected to in recent years; conditions that have been exacerbated by the removal of fuel and electricity subsidies and the floating of the naira by the President Bola Tinubu administration.
Several pleas by the Federal Government and public figures for the protests to be suspended fell on deaf ears. Protesters came out on day one, August 1, and journalists were on ground to cover as is expected of them. Saturday would make it day three of the protests and Abdulkareem and a handful of journalists, assigned by their newsrooms, made their way to the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, to cover the protest.
“The initially calm situation on the protest ground began to take a frightening turn when suspected officials of the State Security Service (SSS) and police started firing tear gas and then live ammunition at peaceful protesters and journalists. It was a surreal and terrifying experience!” Abdulkareem continued.
“Kpa! Kpa! kpa! kpa! were the scary gunfire sounds resonating from different directions. Tear gas canisters came raining down. Sooty smoke oozed out of each canister as it landed on the ground.
“As if that was not enough, several police officers ran after the fleeing crowd, harassing and assaulting some of the protesters they could get hold of. While we were all trying to recover from the tear gas, at about 12:15 pm, more police vans arrived at the stadium.
“Shortly after, about seven Toyota Sienna vehicles (with no number plates) disgorged dozens of hooded and heavily armed State Security Service (SSS) officers. As soon as they alighted from their vehicles, the hooded men moved in different directions.
“’Leave this place, leave this place,’ one of them kept huffing, swinging his hand in anger while pointing his rifle toward journalists covering the protests. He immediately began to load his rifle with shiny-edged bullets wrapped around his waist, and he started to shoot in the direction I stood with the other journalists carrying cameras on the opposite side of the stadium. I could not immediately process what was happening. In a split second, I hurriedly opened the doors of my car. The journalists close to the door hopped in, trembling and screaming.
“As the car roared to life, we saw the hooded SSS official stumble into the drainage by the roadside. Before he could regain balance to reload his gun to fire more shots, I drove off at speed, carrying six journalists who lay low in my car.”
Abdulkareem and his colleagues were lucky to escape alive and relatively unhurt that day. But this episode was not an isolated case of state actors opening fire at journalists in the line of duty. Across the country, there are accounts of how journalists have been attacked and brutalised in the ongoing #EndbadgovernanceInNigeria protest.
The following are recorded incidences of journalists’ intimidation and harassment across the various theatres of protest activities in the country according to the Nigerian Union Journalists (NUJ):
In Calabar, Cross River State, hoodlums attacked journalists, leaving Nigerian Tribune reporter, Joseph Abasi-Abasi, with severe injuries. The assailants targeted a bus belonging to the NUJ, which was carrying food supplies to the Ernest Etim Press Centre.
In Lagos, Bernard Akede of News Central Television was interrupted and barred from conducting live interviews by police officers and later attacked by thugs. The police, however, issued an apology on this particular case.
In Abuja, Daily Independent photojournalist, Jide Oyekunle, was unlawfully arrested and had his mobile phone confiscated by police officers while covering protests. He was only released following spontaneous protest by other journalists.
Again, in Abuja, Olukayode Jayeola, a photojournalist with The PUNCH Newspaper, was arrested by police while covering the protest at Eagle Square. His camera, phones, including an M11, and other personal belongings were confiscated by security operatives. Yakubu Mohammed of Premium Times, in Abuja also, was attacked and injured by police officers who allegedly hit him with the butt of their guns and their batons and caused injuries to his head while covering the protest.
In Kano, Ibrahim Isah of TVC News was physically attacked by armed hoodlums, sustaining hand injuries.
Mary Adeboye, a journalist with News Central Television, was exposed to teargas fired by police officers while reporting on the protest in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Cameras belonging to journalists were also destroyed by police officers.
Jonathan Ugbal of Cross River Watch was arrested, beaten, and detained by the police in Calabar before being released.
In Delta State, some journalists came under attack by counter-protesters, allegedly supporting the government, while covering the demonstration. Prince Amour Udemude, an investigative journalist, Matthew Ochei of Punch Newspaper, Monday Osayande of Guardian Newspaper, and Lucy, a reporter with Pointer, were assaulted and had their equipment destroyed.
Radio Ndarason Internationale staff members were arrested at RNI offices in Maiduguri as they were reporting on the protests.
Reacting to the spate of attacks in a statement, the NUJ stated that: “Following the series of protests that rocked many parts of the country on Thursday and Friday the 1st and 2nd of August 2024, Nigerian journalists in their numbers went out as required by the demands of the profession to cover the events.
“Unfortunately, the hydra headed monster of journalist intimidation, harassments and seizures of both official and personal assets of members of the press reared its ugly head once more. These acts were carried out by both state and non-state actors. This sordid and unacceptable state of affairs, especially those perpetrated by state actors is happening in spite of various conscious efforts by the NUJ to engage government officials and security forces to address these anti-democratic behaviours by those saddled with the responsibility of maintaining law and order.
“We want to assure Nigerians and the authorities that journalists will neither be cowed nor deterred from carrying out their responsibilities of engaging with the society with a view to informing, enlightening and educating the citizens for the purpose of promoting the public good.
“We are currently investigating this unwholesome and troublesome assault on the profession, and are compiling a list of official and personal assets of journalists that were either lost, seized, or damaged with a view to determine their value. We expect nothing less than a public apology from the institutions responsible as well as the replacement of the lost or damaged assets of the journalists.
“Lastly, we call for a thorough investigation into these incidences with a view to punishing the culprits.”
Achike Chude, National Secretary of the NUJ, told Nigerian Tribune further that “We have recorded factual incidences of journalists that were attacked by security forces and thugs. In fact, in more cases, the harassment was done by state actors rather than non-state actors. Cameras were seized, some of them arrested albeit temporarily. Some of their equipment were damaged and we are not happy about this at all. The NUJ has issued a statement calling for sanctions against those who committed this perfidy. We also expecting a public apology from government institutions involved in this. It shows there are elements within the security forces that are disdainful of the work that journalists do.
He added that it has been said that if you want to find out the level of freedom of democracy in a country you should check the level of press freedom. “The level of attack were too numerous for one to conclude that perhaps they were deliberate. This is wrong and it is something we do not expect to happen,” Chude said.
Zikora Ibeh, Policy and Research Analyst at Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), speaking on the issue said, “The regrettable attacks on journalists in the #EndBadGovernance protests further reflect the deepening crisis in our so-called democracy. Journalists are not just battling repressive anti-press laws that strangle their ability to report the truth, they are also under siege from both state and non-state actors.
“When media freedoms are under attack, it is a clear sign that something is deeply wrong. The same fear of the truth and lack of accountability from the ruling and political class continues to fuel unrest in society, as we have seen in recent times.”
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has condemned the molestation of journalists, especially by the Nigerian Police at Eagle Square, Abuja during the #EndBadGovernance protest.
According to the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Dr. Tony Ojukwu, SAN, the act is a clear violation of their fundamental human rights and a blatant attempt to suppress the freedom of press.
“We call on the Nigerian Police to respect the rights of journalists and protesters, and to ensure that their actions align with international human rights standards”, he said.
Nigeria has had a history of attacks on journalists by state actors during protests with fatalities in some cases. Recently, a Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the Lagos State government to investigate the death of Pelumi Onifade, a 20-year-old reporter, who was arrested by police during the #EndSARS protests in 2020. His body was later found in a mortuary in Ikorodu. He was a 200-level student of the Department of History, Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ogun State, interning with Gboah TV, an online television.
On July 22, 2019, Precious Owolabi, a 23-year-old reporter with Channels Television, was shot while covering a confrontation between Shi’ite Muslim protesters and the Nigerian police and died the same day after being taken to a hospital.
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