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Photojournalist Beaten Unconscious by Police Orderly
A photojournalist with the
privately-owned Nigerian Tribune newspapers, Sikiru Adeoye was on
December 22 beaten unconscious by policemen attached to the Oyo State
governor, Alhaji Rahidi Ladoja at Ibadan the State capital South-West
Nigeria.
Sikiru Adeoye had gone to the
local government headquarters in Agodi area of ibadan to cover clashes
between supporters of the governor and those of his estranged political
god-father, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu.
Adeoye was taking photographs
of Adedibu supporters who were attacking the governor's offices and
clashing with police responsible for the governor's security, when the
police approached him and told him he had no permission to take
photographs.
On responding that that he had
been sent by the Nigerian Tribune, police began beating him until
he lost consciousness. He was taken to an Ibadan hospital, still
unconscious, with injuries and marks of many blows on his head and body.
Paris-based freedom of
expression group, Reporters Without Borders reiterated its dismay about
continued police violence against journalists in Nigeria, in spite of
civilian governance, saying it was 19th case of police brutality against
the press to come to its attention this year in Nigeria.
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