On June 23, 2017, Ibraheema Yakubu, a correspondent of the German Deutsche Welle (DW) radio who reports for its Hausa service was arrested while covering a peaceful procession by the Shiites Muslim sect in Kaduna. The policemen beat him and damaged his equipment while he was covering the procession and thereafter detained him.
Mr. Yakubu was arrested while covering a scene in which locals attacked the Shiites and tried to force them to disperse.
He was later released on bail to officials of the Kaduna council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) about six hours after. He returned to the police station on June 18 as directed.
Following confirmation that Mr. Yakuba is not a Shiite member as alleged but a journalist carrying out his duty, on June 29, Mr. Agyole Abeh, the Commissioner of Police, Kaduna State Command apologized to the journalist on behalf of the command.
When Yakubu met the police commissioner in company of other journalists he said his command will also consider replacing the journalist’s damaged equipment.
