Nigerian police attack journalist Eniola Daniel for photos of house demolitions

Abuja, March 4, 2021 – Nigerian authorities should conduct a credible and transparent investigation into the assault on journalist Eniola Daniel and hold his attackers to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

At around 11 a.m. on February 28, seven police officers – six in uniform and one in civilian clothes – attacked Daniel, a journalist with the Nigerian private newspaper The Guardian, after photographing them demolishing makeshift homes in the western quarter. from the Apapa Council in Lagos State. , according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ by phone, and a report and video of the attack published by his employer.

Daniel identified himself as a reporter on a mission, but officers grabbed and smashed his phone, ripped his pants, briefly choked him, and punched him in the stomach, hitting him unconscious, as they pulled themselves together. asked why he had dared to photograph them, according to Daniel. and this video.

“Nigerian authorities should credibly investigate the police attack on journalist Eniola Daniel and hold those responsible to account,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York. “The lack of justice following similar police attacks on journalists in Nigeria is against press freedom and is a trend that must stop.”

After beating him, the police pushed Daniel inside a marked police van, where he regained consciousness and heard them calling him a “bastard”; Ten minutes later, the head of the police team asked one of the attackers to return Daniel’s damaged phone and the journalist was released without charge, he told CPJ.

Daniel said he called police spokesman Olumiyiwa Adejobi immediately after the attack and said Adejobi told him to write a statement detailing the incident. Daniel said he sent his statement to police headquarters in Ikeja, the state capital, on March 2.

Adejobi sent a message to Daniel late in the evening, saying that the police had received his letter and that Adejobi would handle the case and “advise appropriately”, the reporter said.

Daniel told CPJ he went to a clinic where he was examined and medically treated after the attack and suffered a minor cut to his chest and a hand injury, and that he suffered from persistent back pain.

Adejobi told CPJ, via a messaging app, that he opened an investigation into the attack after being instructed to do so by the state police commissioner.