The Coalition for Whistleblower Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) on Thursday called on the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command to investigate the assault on the Editor of Pinnacle Daily, Sunday Ogwu, by police officers in Lugbe, Abuja.
The coalition, in a statement on Thursday, described the attack on Mr Ogwu as “unprovoked brutality” and “lawlessness” by operatives of the Lugbe Police Division led by a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Uchenna.
The statement signed by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) on behalf of the coalition, also called the development “deeply unsettling and unacceptable.”
“Documenting public operations conducted by state agents is a constitutionally protected right, not a criminal offence. It is therefore worrisome that police officers, duty-bound to enforce law and order, would resort to using electric cables to torture a journalist for performing his civic and professional duties,” the statement said.
This followed a report confirming that police officers attached to the police division in Lugbe, a town less than 20 minutes drive from Abuja city centre, flogged Mr Ogwu and damaged his phone for documenting a joint demolition exercise.
