The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has asked authorities in Nigeria to thoroughly investigate the recent attack on a Daily Post correspondent, Sikiru Obarayese.
Obarayese was reportedly slapped, kicked and beaten with batons by at least four policemen while he was reporting on the enforcement of the Covid-19 restrictions in Oshogbo, Osun State.
Development Diaries learnt that Obarayese told CPJ that the policemen assaulted him after he had photographed some law enforcement officers beating citizens for not wearing face masks.
He accused a state commissioner, Adebayo Adeleke, of ordering the attack on him. However, Adeleke, according to CPJ, denied ordering any attack on Obarayese.
CPJ’s Africa Programme Coordinator in New York, Angela Quintal, said, ‘The attack by police on journalist Sikiru Obarayese is an alarming reminder of the Nigerian police’s willingness to target the press for doing their jobs.
‘Journalists must be free to report on how authorities enforce Covid-19 response measures, and those responsible for violence against the public and the media must be held accountable’.
Obarayese later confirmed that the Osun State Chief Press Secretary, Ismail Omipidan, had called him to apologise for the attack, adding that Omipidan gave him N50,000 to cover his medical bills.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists
Photo source: Fredrik Walloe
