Protest: Group Condemns Harassment, Brutality Of Journalists By Security Operatives

A non-governmental organisation, the Centre for Cyber Awareness and Development (CECAD), has condemned the excessive harassment and wanton brutality that the Nigerian security agencies meted out to journalists covering the #EndBadGovernance protests that hit the country from August 1.

Bayero Agabi, the president of CECAD, raised this concern in a statement he issued yesterday following attacks and crude brutality the security operatives inflicted on several journalists in Abuja, the nation‘s capital.

The CECAD boss was particularly irked by the beating and dehumanisation of Mr Hilary Damissah, an editor at DigiVation Network, who was an unfortunate victim of the protest after being molested and left with injuries around under the Berger Bridge location in the city.

According to Agabi, Mr Damissah was rattled by the use of tear gas at close range from a stationed Police Hilux van while trying to take photographs of some protesters and onlookers, which the officers considered offensive to them.

“While trying to scamper to safety, he was further assaulted, including the use of a baton to bruise him as he sustained serious injury and a deep cut on his pointer finger,“ Agabi said.

He condemned the action of the police and their fellow sister security bodies, describing it as „disgraceful, distasteful and a violation of international conventions which guarantees the protection of the rights of journalists even in the most severe crises or war situations.“

He further said, „The action of the government security personnel is a complete act of human rights violations which contradicts best global policing practices“, even as he called on the Inspector general of police to bring to book officers found wanting in the abuse and molestation of journalists especially on the line of duty.

Agabi added that the commitment of journalists to social courses is already a selfless service which exposes them to many hazards in their duty while also describing media professionals as partners in progress with law enforcement operatives.

The brutalised journalist, Damissah, reportedly managed to scupper to a safe place with the help of some protesters while gasping for breath as he was afterwards rushed to a medical facility in the Kaura District area of Abuja for medication.

According to an eye witness, the journalist was unfortunate because some moments before the incident, a combined team of the Nigerian Police and that of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) had informed some of the protesters that the Berger location was not opened or approved for any anti-government protest.

According to the security personnel, such an action would be resisted for what they described as „order from above“. „We are here to enforce the law and ensure strict compliance to all the directives which forbid any demonstration around this place, and anyone who refuses to obey will have themselves to blame“, retorted a senior Police Officer whose name tag was not displayed on his uniform the eye witness stated.

In a related development, at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja security operatives moved into the venue of the hunger protest in an attempt to force the protesters to disperse. The masked official mounted a post strategically near one of the main entrances to the stadium.

After a while, the protesters regrouped, but this time around, the security forces fired gunshots into the air and used tear gas to disperse the crowd and, in the process, arrested some protesters and journalists, some of whom were later released upon self-identification.

This hard and uncivil stance of the security personnel was developed after Christopher Musa, the chief of Defence Staff, threatened that the military would take action if the protests got out of hand.