Operatives of the Nigeria Police Forcearrested two journalists of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) who were covering the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protest in Abuja, the nation’s capital city, on Monday.
The journalists were identified as Nick Roll, an American; and John Okunyomih, a videographer who is Nigerian.
Both men were at the entrance of the Transcorp hotel in Maitama as police officers fired teargas at protesters.
The AFP reporters were filming the chaos when officers violently accosted and attempted to restrain them.
During the confrontation, their camera got damaged while their phones were seized.
The operatives also allegedly yanked off the journalists’ teargas protection.
Subsequently, Roll was released but Okunyomih was taken to the Federal Capital Territory command Criminal Investigation Department, and let go much later.
The police also arrested Aloy Ejimakor, one of the lawyers representing the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Earlier, police emptied teargas canisters on commuters at the Central Business District of Abuja as activists assembled to commence the protest.
Some of the commuters were waiting for vehicles to take them to workplaces when they were teargassed.
The protest is being spearheaded by the publisher of Sahara Reporters and former presidential candidate, Mr. Omoyele Sowore.
Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services since his re-arrest in June 2021. He has been on trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
