Mr. Peter Okolie, a correspondent with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), was on February 25, 2018 brutalised by a policeman for taking photographs of him forcefully extorting money from a driver in Awka, Anambra State.
Peter was at a restaurant in Aroma Junction, Awka when he heard an altercation outside the restaurant. He went to investigate and saw a police officer seated in a UNIZIK branded bus punching a young male driver.
Seeing what was happening, Peter reached for his cameral and began to take photographs of the incident. After taking some shots, he began to take notes.
Unfortunately for Peter, another police officer, with badge number 10142 from B Division, who noticed what he was doing, rushed at the journalist and punched him in the face.
The policeman insisted on confiscating Peter’s camera and notebook. It took the intervention of officers from a paramilitary agency who stopped the policeman from beating Peter and confiscating his camera and notepad.
However, the police command refused to entertain the matter when the Chairman of the Anambra State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) reported the matter to it.
