The Silverbird Television station correspondent in Oyo State, John Alabi has narrated how he was brutalized by the police in the line of duty following the face off between them (Police) and some hoodlums at Moniya axis of Ibadan.
The Silverbird TV reporter disclosed that he was released from the police custody following the intervention of the Nigeria Union of Journalists Oyo State Council.
According to John Alabi, who narrated how the incident happened, “here is the narration of my ordeal during the bloody clash between the police and some hoodlums that took place today, Tuesday, 25th April, 2023 at Moniya, Ibadan.
“I was at Akinyele Local Government in the morning on the said date, where I had a scheduled assignment to cover for my organization.
“As a journalist, I got to the venue ahead of commencement of the assignment as expected, unfortunately while waiting for the organizers, I got wind of an information that there was a public disorder around the Akinyele Local Government.
“As expected of a professional journalist, I tried to know what the matter was and I was taking a few shots. Suddenly I saw about five police officers who approached and harrassed me, hitting me with gun butt, even after drawing their attention to the fact that I am a journalist.
“I showed them my identity card and other documents to show that I’m a journalist, but they turned deaf ears, arrested me and detained me at Akinyele Police Station from around 10:45 in the morning till 4:30 in the evening.
“Some of them threatened that I will be locked up at the state CID Iyaganku, and I will pay for a crime I did not commit.
“The policemen were five in number, one of them is named Noah Ajebade. Three of them are not in uniform. The DPO after checking my identity card said I should sit on one of the chairs behind the complain desk. He did not attend to me till he received a call from his superior. And that was around 3pm.
“It took the intervention of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Oyo State council before I was released,” Silverbird TV correspondent explained.
