NDLEA Denies Torturing Radio Nigeria Journalist In Cross River

The Cross River State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has denied allegations that its operatives harassed and tortured a Radio Nigeria journalist, Prince Alobi, in Calabar.

The denial followed reports that Alobi, a broadcast journalist with Canaan City FM 99.5, was allegedly brutalised while covering a drug enforcement operation at Parliamentary Extension, along Lemna Road, near Northwest Filling Station, on October 25.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP on the incident in Calabar on Tuesday, the Assistant Commander of Narcotics, Kabiru Abdullahi, who led the patrol in Lemna, said the journalist was caught in the middle of a mob attack on NDLEA officers.

He said Alobi was taken alongside other suspects to the agency’s office for screening and not for torture.

Abdullahi insisted that the agency maintained a cordial relationship with the media and would not deliberately attack a journalist performing his duty.

“NDLEA can never harass nor intimidate a media man, we have cordial relationship with them. You know it, I don’t have to say anything. Why would we drag ourselves with a media man? He didn’t identify himself,” he said.

He explained that the operatives were struggling for their lives when suspected drug peddlers and their sympathisers attacked them with cutlasses, sticks and stones.

According to him, Alobi identified himself as a journalist only after the operatives arrived at their office.

“He only told us that he was a journalist just as we got to our office. If he had brought his ID card earlier, nobody would have attempted to pull him. He was later released after giving his statement,” Abdullahi added.

However, narrating his experience during a telephone conversation, Alobi said he heard gunshots from his office at about 3pm and stepped out to ascertain what was happening after informing his station.

He said he realised that NDLEA operatives were carrying out an arrest and approached the scene to establish the circumstances surrounding the operation.

“I obviously saw it was the NDLEA effecting an arrest, I walked across to see what is happening. All I received was a slap from a personnel of the agency that got me blacked out and breaking my glasses to my face,” he said.

The journalist further alleged that despite identifying himself as a member of the press, he was hit with the butt of a gun and bundled into the agency’s Hilux van.

“They collected my two phones and smashed them on the ground,” he stated.

Alobi said the incident had negatively affected his health and professional duties, adding that he now struggles to sleep and maintain contact with his news sources.

He is demanding justice over the incident, insisting that he was performing his lawful duty as guaranteed under Sections 22 and 39 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.