The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command has denied arresting Jide Oyekunle, a journalist with Daily Independent Newspapers, during a protest in Abuja.
Oyekunle, who is also the chairman of the correspondents’ chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abuja, was covering the #EndBadGovernance protest against the rising cost of living, along with other reporters in the capital city on Thursday.
Oyekunle stated that officers, led by Benneth Igwe, the FCT police commissioner, confronted journalists who had arrived at Eagle Square with protesters from the MKO Abiola stadium.
“I didn’t commit any crime; I was covering protests, and he (Igwe) asked them to arrest me, and he personally collected my mobile phone,” the journalist said.
However, in a statement, Josephine Adeh, police spokesperson in the FCT police, said the journalist was taken away for his safety.
“Mr. Jide Oyekunle was rather taken away from the perceived unsafe environment for his own safety after being advised to leave where he was standing to a safer location, and he declined, as some of the protesters had suddenly become violent,” the statement reads.
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