Protesters were on Thursday teargased at the Police Force
headquarters in Abuja during a protest to demand the release of a detained Premium
Times journalist, Samuel Ogundipe.
It could be recalled that the journalist was on Tuesday
arrested for writing a story based on a letter written by Ibrahim Idris,
inspector-general of police (IGP), to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.
Members of the OurMumuDonDo Movement and other civil society
organisations were among the protesters teargased by the police.
They arrived at the headquarters of the force as early as
9am to protest the arrest and detention of Ogundipe with the hashtag
#FreeSamuelOgundipe.
However, police officers formed a ring at the gate to
prevent the protesters from gaining entry into the building and sprayed teargas
at the protesters, causing a number of them to scurry for safety. Some of the
protesters who inhaled the teargas became unconscious.
Charles Oputa, better known as Charly Boy, Deji Adeyanju,
and Omoyele Sowore were among the activists at the protest.
Jimoh Moshood, police spokesman, said Ogundipe is not being
persecuted, adding that the police have the right to investigate any
allegation.
“Even though we have the Freedom of Information Act (FOI),
the act itself is restricted to some classified documents and that is what we
are investigating, he said.
“The document in question does not fall under the FOI act
therefore we are not asking him about the source of the information but the
source of the document.”
The protesters have vowed to continue demanding for the
release of Ogundipe, insisting that they cannot be intimidated by the police.
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