“He hit me with a gun butt,” Premium Times newspaper reporter, Yakubu Mohammed told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), recalling how he was struck by a police officer while covering the recent protests in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on August 1.

Two other officers beat him, seized his phone and threw him in a police van. He suffered the attack despite wearing a “press vest” and showing the officers his press identification card.

Nigerian security forces lob tear gas canisters to disperse an anti-government demonstration to protest against bad governance and economic hardship in Abuja, Nigeria, on August 2, 2024. Journalists across the country were injured in the demonstrations, which continued for six days. (Photo: Reuters/Marvellous Durowaiy).

Mohammed is one of the 56 journalists who were either assaulted or harassed by security forces and unidentified citizens while covering the #EndBadGovernance demonstrations in Nigeria.

The country is one of several countries across sub-Saharan Africa that have experienced anti-government protests in recent months.

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Yakubu Mohammed shows a head wound which he said was caused by police officers who hit him with gun butts and batons. (Photo: Courtesy of Yakubu Mohammed).

In Kenya, at least a dozen journalists have been targeted by security personnel during weeks of youth-led protests since June, with at least one reporter shot with rubber bullets and several others hit with teargas canisters.

Meanwhile, Ugandan police and soldiers used force to quash similar demonstrations over corruption and high living costs, while a Ghanaian court banned planned protests.

Globally, attacks on the press often get spiked during moments of political tension. In Senegal, at least 25 journalists were attacked, detained and tear gassed while reporting on February’s protests over delayed elections.

Last year, CPJ found that more than 40 Nigerian journalists were detained, attacked and harassed while covering presidential and state elections.

In 2020, at least a dozen journalists were attacked during the #EndSARS campaign that was aimed at bringing an end to Nigeria’s brutal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police unit.

CPJ’s documentation of the incidents below based on interviews with those affected, local media reports and verified videos and photos, are emblematic of the dangers faced by reporters in many African countries during protests – and the failure of authorities to prioritise journalists’ safety and ending impunity for crimes against journalists.

All but one of the journalists – a reporter for government-owned Radio Nigeria – worked for privately owned media outlets.

July 31

News Central TV journalists were stopped and questioned by police officers while live reporting. (Screenshot: News Central TV/YouTube).

In Lagos State, police officers harassed Bernard Akede, a reporter with News Central TV, and his colleagues, digital reporter, Eric Thomas and camera operators, Karina Adobaba-Harry and Samuel Chukwu, forcing them to pause reporting on the planned protests at the Lekki toll gate.

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August 1

In Abuja, police officers arrested Jide Oyekunle, a photojournalist with the Daily Independent newspaper, and Kayode Jaiyeola, a photojournalist with the Punch newspaper, as they covered protests.

In Borno State, at least 10 armed police officers forcefully entered the office of the regional broadcast outfit, Radio Ndarason Internationale (RNI) and detained nine members of staff for five hours. Those held said that police accused them of publishing “fake news” in the arrest documentation and RNI’s project director, David Smith, told CPJ that the raid was in response to the outlet’s decision to report the demonstrations via WhatsApp.

The detained staff were: Head of Office, Lami Manjimwa Zakka; Editor-in-Chief, Mamman Mahmood; producer, Ummi Fatima Baba Kyari; reporters, Hadiza Dawud, Zainab Alhaji Ali, and Amina Falmata Mohammed; Head of Programs, Bunu Tijjani; Deputy Head, Programmes, Ali Musa; and Information and Communications Technology Head, Abubakar Gajibo.

In Abuja, police officers threw tear gas canisters at Mary Adeboye, a camera operator with News Central TV; Samuel Akpan, a senior reporter with TheCable newspaper; and Adefemola Akintade, a reporter with the Peoples Gazette. The canisters struck Adeboye and Akpan’s legs and led to injuries.

In Kano City, unidentified attackers wielding machetes and sticks smashed the windows of a Channels Television-branded bus carrying 11 journalists and a car carrying two journalists.

The journalists were: reporters Ibrahim Ayyuba Isah of TVC News; Ayo Adenaiye of Arise News (whose laptop got damaged); Murtala Adewale of The Guardian newspaper, Bashir Bello of Vanguard newspaper, Abdulmumin Murtala of Leadership newspaper and Sadiq Iliyasu Dambatta of Channels Television.

The other journalists in the vehicle were Caleb Jacob and Victor Christopher of Cool FM, Wazobia FM, and Arewa Radio; camera operators John Umar of Channels Television, Ibrahim Babarami of Arise News, Iliyasu Yusuf of AIT, Usman Adam of TVC News; and multimedia journalist Salim Umar Ibrahim of Daily Trust newspaper.

READ ALSO: BREAKING: Police Fire Teargas at Lekki Tollgate Protesters

The windows of a Channels Television bus were smashed by unidentified assailants as it was transporting 11 journalists to cover protests in the Nigerian city of Kano on August 1. (Photo: Ibrahim Ayyuba Isah).

In Delta State, at least 10 unidentified assailants who were opposed to the protest, attacked four journalists. The journalists are Monday Osayande of The Guardian newspaper, Matthew Ochei of the Punch newspapers, Lucy Ezeliora of The Pointer newspaper, and investigative journalist Prince Amour Udemude (whose phone was snatched).

Osayande told CPJ in a phone interview that the attacked journalists did not make a formal complaint to police about the incident because several police officers saw it happen, but did not intervene.

He added that the state commissioner for information, Efeanyi Micheal Osuoza, had promised to investigate the incident.

Osuoza also told CPJ in a phone interview that he was investigating the matter. He also said he would ensure that Udemude’s stolen phone was replaced.

Police oversee protesters in Lagos on August 2, 2024. (Photo: AP/Sunday Alamba).

August 3

At the Abuja national stadium, masked security forces fired bullets and tear gas in the direction of 18 journalists covering the protests, several of whom were wearing press vests.

The teargased journalists were Premium Times reporters Abdulkareem Mojeed, Emmanuel Agbo, Abdulqudus Ogundapo, and Popoola Ademola; TheCable videographer Mbasirike Joshua and reporters Dyepkazah Shibayan, Bolanle Olabimtan, and Claire Mom; AIT reporter Oscar Ihimhekpen and camera operators Femi Kuku and Olugbenga Ogunlade; News Central TV camera operator Eno-Obong Koffi and reporter Emmanuel Bagudu; the non-profit International Centre for Investigative Reporting’s video journalist Johnson Fatumbi and reporters Mustapha Usman and Nurudeen Akewushola; and Peoples Gazette reporters Akintade and Ebube Ibeh.

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Kuku suffered a dislocation on his leg while Ademola had a cut on one of his knees. His phone also got broken while he was fleeing from being assaulted by the police.

In Abuja’s Wuse neighbourhood, unidentified men robbed Victorson Agbenson, the political editor of the government-owned Radio Nigeria, and his driver Chris Ikwu at knifepoint as they covered the protests.

August 6

In Lagos State, unidentified armed men hit four journalists from News Central TV and their vehicle with sticks. The affected journalists were Akede, camera operator Adobaba-Harry, reporter Consin-Mosheshe Ogheneruru, and camera operator Albert David.

Abuja police spokesperson, Josephine Adeh told CPJ in a telephone interview phone on August 16 that the police did not carry out any attacks on the media. She also asked to be shown evidence that such attacks occurred before ending the call. She went on to accuse CPJ of “harassing her”.

Police spokespersons Bright Edafe of Delta State and Haruna Abdullahi of Kano State told CPJ that their officers had not received any complaints about attacks on the press.

Lagos State police spokesperson Benjamin Hundeyin referred CPJ to the state’s police Complaints Response Unit when he was contacted.

When CPJ phoned the Complaints Response Unit, the officers who answered CPJ’s phone call refused to identify themselves. They also claimed not to have received complaints of a series of attacks on journalists. CPJ’s subsequent calls and messages went unanswered.

CPJ’s repeated calls and messages to Borno State Commissioner for Information, Usman Tar, were also not responded to.

Evelyn Okakwu joined the Committee to Protect Journalists as a Nigeria consultant in August 2019. She was appointed CPJ’s West Africa correspondent in January 2021.

Okakwu previously worked for four years as a judiciary correspondent for the Premium Times online newspaper and for two years, as a general assignment reporter with the Peoples Daily newspaper in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Okakwu has a Higher National Diploma from the Federal Polytechnic Mubi, Adamawa State, Nigeria.

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