3 months ago
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A photojournalist with The PUNCH newspaper, Kayode Jaiyeola, was on Thursday arrested by the FCT Police Command in Abuja while covering the hunger protest.
Jaiyeola, in a distress call to one of his colleagues, said he was arrested at Eagles Square by an officer attached to the Office of the National Security Adviser.
Jaiyeola said the officer then handed him over to men of the FCT Police Command who then took him into detention.
He added that his phone and camera were seized by the police.
“An officer attached to the NSA picked me up at the Eagles Square and handed me over to the police command. I am currently at the police command. They have taken my phone and camera away from me,” he said in a distress call to our correspondent.
When contacted, the FCT command police spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, said Jaiyeola was brought by the NSA officials and had been released.
Adeh added that Jaiyeola was still at the command because the police were trying to help him get his phone and camera back.
“We didn’t arrest him. He was brought from the NSA office. He has been told to go but he said his phone and gadget are with the people who brought him and we have been trying to see how he could get them back which was why he is still with us. FCT police command didn’t arrest him, please. “
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Union of Journalists condemned the attack on journalists on Thursday while doing their jobs, covering the protest.
One of our correspondents in Kano reported that hoodlums swooped on journalists in the metropolis on Thursday.
A bus, belonging to the Channels Television conveying 11 journalists from different media outfits, including print and broadcast, was attacked by the hoodlums, who were wielding dangerous weapons on Sokoto Road, Kano.
The Chairman of the NUJ, Kano State Council, Abbas Ibrahim, and Secretary Comrade Abba Murtala, condemned the attack in a statement on Thursday.
“We wish to categorically state that it is constitutional for citizens to stage peaceful protests but illegal and unlawful to subject other citizens to intimidation and abuse.
“We therefore condemn in very strong terms the attack on journalists, who are discharging their functions as responsible members of the society, contributing their quota for the progress and development of our dear nation.”
English (US) ·