The Coalition for Whistleblowers Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) has condemned reported attack on the Kaduna State correspondent of the Daily Times Newspaper, Gabriel Idibia, by officers of the Kaduna State command of the Nigeria Police Force on June 11, 2024.
Idibia in a chat with the Centre for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID) confirmed that he was arrested and taken to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) police station, Gabasawa, while taking pictures of a large herd of cattle being shepherded by the police on Kachia Expressway, a usually busy road in the state.
He was, thereafter, taken into custody and brutally beaten up. Idibia insisted that the physical torture severely affected his eyes forcing him to seek eye treatment. His allegations have been corroborated by media reports and an eye witness that was arrested along with him.
Before his arrest, Idibia had presented his identity card to the police officers to identify himself as a journalist trying to cover the blockage of the Kachia Expressway by the herd of cattle led by the same policemen.
He was, however, denied an audience by the officers who asked him to leave the scene of the incident for no reason. The police officers thereafter seized his mobile phone and identity card when Idibia tried to take a picture of the road blockage and took him to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) police station, Gabasawa where he was detained from morning till late in the evening.
Idibia added the policemen forced him to write a statement without access to his lawyers or colleagues. He narrated his ordeal, “on getting to the police station, one of the officers who brought me to the station punched me in the face, and hit one of my eyes, leaving me almost blinded.” He further alleged that the police have threatened to indict and label him a bandit.
In a phone conversation with CJID, spokesperson of the Kaduna State Police Command, Mansir Hassan, an Assistant Superintendent of Police said he saw no sign of assault on Idibia when the journalist met him in his office after he was released.
He, however, did not deny his unlawful arrest and detainment. He told the CJID in a phone conversation, “he was eventually granted bail on self-recognition.”
To CWPPF, “we find it rather disturbing that men of the Nigeria Police Force not only arrested Idibia unlawfully, but also resorted to assaulting him for simply performing his constitutionally guaranteed duties as a journalist. This is certainly not a practice welcomed in a democratic state like Nigeria and it stands condemned in strong terms.
“The attack on Idibia is a violation of his fundamental human rights. It also constitutes an outright infringement on press freedom and the public’s rights to information and expression.”
CWPPF urged the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to ensure that a thorough investigation is conducted into the matter and all officers involved in the unlawful arrest and assault of Idibia be made to face the appropriate legal sanctions.
The members concluded, “journalists play an essential role without which democracy cannot function; therefore, they must be protected and not attacked by the police and all other security agencies.”
Recall that the coalition had also condemned unjust arrest, incarceration and arraignment of Idibia in November 2023. As Head of Bureau Northern Operations at Daybreak Nigeria, Idibia was apprehended by operation ‘Yaki’ police in Kaduna on November 13 and subjected to two days of detention over his exposé on the deplorable conditions of the 2023 Kaduna Hajj camp.
