The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos-Nigeria, through its Safety and Protection of Journalists (SPJ) Hub, has strongly condemned the reported attacks on the journalists that covered the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest on Monday.

Information gathered by IPC-SPJ Hub revealed that journalists who were covered the protest, coordinated by activist Omoyele Sowore, demanding the immediate release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by the Federal Government, were faced with one form of attack or the other, including unlawful arrest, confiscation of gadgets and equipment, damage to vehicles, etc.

The details of the incidents as documented by IPC-SPJ Hub include:

The media crew of Business Day, consisting of Tony Ailemen, Tunde Adeniyi, Ladi Patrick-Okwoli, and Michael Godwin narrowly escaped death as police fired teargas at their vehicle during the protest.

The teargas shattered the windshield of their vehicle. The crew were conducting a voice pop on the protest when the teargas was fired.

Two Agence France Presse (AFP) journalists – John Okunyomih and Nicholas Roll, who were covering the protest, were arrested by operatives of the Nigeria Police. Their phones, cameras and other gadgets were confiscated by the police officials. The journalists had first fired tear gas at the reporters before arresting them.

The Executive Director of IPC, Lanre Arogundade, in a statement, described the attacks as a disturbing recurrence of history, stating that under no condition should journalists on legitimate duty be subject to attack by security agencies.

“The rights of journalists to cover and report protests and other societal activities as guaranteed by the 1999 Nigeria Constitution and various regulatory frameworks have not been respected as expected,” Arogundade called on all concerned security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to investigate the attacks and bring the perpetrators to justice.