Shortly after Mohammad Adamu, the inspector-general of police, disbanded the special anti-robbery squad (SARS), Francis Ogbonna, a photojournalist with Arise TV, was reportedly assaulted by operatives of the force.
Ferdinand Duruoha, a reporter with Arise TV, who was also with Ogbonna, said the incident occurred shortly after Adamu announced the dissolution of SARS on Sunday.
The TV station’s crew were at the premises in Abuja to cover the briefing on SARS by the IGP.
Duruoha narrated how his colleague was assaulted by the police while they were trying to get the reactions of some protesting youths on the disbandment of SARS.
“We took the IG’s message live on Twitter banning SARS, and on returning from that particular interview, we saw some youth along the road, protesting,” he said.
“While we were trying to speak to them and get their takes on the IG’s message, we were attacked by policemen who have brutally assaulted Francis and broke his camera and Arise news camera.
“This is the result of that brutalisation. I am about taking him to the hospital but then we just need to get this as a sign of evidence of what the police have done.”
0 Comments