On August 5, 2019, no less than six journalists covering the #RevolutionNow protests organized by Omoyele Sowore’s political movement across Nigeria were brutalized, arrested and detained in different cities where the protests held.
At about 9am, the police in Calabar, Cross River State brutalised, arrested and detained three journalists: Nicholas Kalu of The Nation newspaper, Jeremiah Achibong of CrossRiverWatch and Jonathan Ugbal of CrossRiverWatch, while covering a civil society protest tagged #RevolutionNow.
Jeremiah Achibong, managing editor of CrossRiverWatch was arrested when he turned up at the police station to bail Mr Ugbal, who had been earlier arrested.
The police accused them of being members of the ‘RevolutionNow’ movement. They were kept in police custody for over 12 hours at the Police Command Headquarters in Diamond Hill, Calabar.
Similarly, in Lagos, Victor Ode, Video Editor and cameraman, alongside eight other protesters were manhandled and forced into a waiting Black Marias. Victor was not even allowed to identify himself but was forcefully dragged into the lorry. They were first taken to Area C police station before being transferred to the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department in Panti, Lagos.
In Osogbo, the Osun State capital, a police woman released tear gas canister into the face of Sunday Oguntuyi, the correspondent of Nigeria News Direct newspaper who was at the venue of the campaign to cover the event.
In Akure, Ondo State, Mr. Tosin Ajuwon, correspondent of Leadership Newspaper, was brutalised, arrested and detained by the police for hours at the Ore Police Station.
