- He claimed that officers, led by FCT Police Commissioner Benneth Igwe, confronted journalists who had arrived at Eagle Square
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command has denied arresting Jide Oyekunle, a journalist with Daily Independent Newspapers, during the protest in Abuja.
Oyekunle, who is also the chairman of the correspondents’ chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abuja, was covering the #EndBadGovernance protest against the rising cost of living on Thursday.
He claimed that officers, led by FCT Police Commissioner Benneth Igwe, confronted journalists who had arrived at Eagle Square with the protesters from MKO Abiola Stadium.
“I didn’t commit any crime; I was covering protests, and he (Igwe) asked them to arrest me, and he personally collected my mobile phone,” Oyekunle said. “My mobile phone is still with him, and it took the intervention of other journalists around to call the attention of other officers that ‘this is the chairman of NUJ; he should not be taken; he is covering protests.'”
Oyekunle criticized the police, saying, “I don’t know why police are trying to suppress press freedom while we are carrying out our constitutional duty; this is unfair.”
However, FCT police spokesperson Josephine Adeh stated that the journalist was removed from the area for his own safety. “Mr. Jide Oyekunle was rather taken away from the perceived unsafe environment for his own safety after being advised to leave where he was standing to a safer location, and he declined, as some of the protesters had suddenly become violent,” the statement read.
Adeh reiterated that it is the duty of the police to protect lives and property.
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