Earlier this morning, a Roots TV Correspondent covering the #FreeDunamis5 protest at Dunamis Church in Abuja was arrested by men of the Nigerian police. After several failed attempts to reach him by the bureau, he finally regained his freedom 4hrs after his incarceration. Below is his account of events as it occurred.
“I got to Dunamis church around 7:20am for a follow up to the arrest and incarceration of 5 #BuhariMustGo protesters, taken into custody by Department of State Services (DSS) operatives at the Church Premises last Sunday.
Earlier, some groups had held a press conference vowing to storm the church to demand the release of the 5 protesters.
From the entrance of the church, heavy presence of security operatives comprising of DSS and police personnel could be seen. They said they were prepared for anything.
Around 7:24am I was approached by the Church’s security staff alongside 2 policemen each armed with AK47 rifles, they started shouting and harassing me, but I successfully calmed them down.
While this drama unfolded, Solomon Adoniyi of Punch newspaper sighted me and joined me. 5 minutes later, they asked us to leave the church premises saying nothing was happening and they were not comfortable with our presence. I drove away as instructed and parked at the other side of the road where I could witness whatever may happen. At this time the protesters had started arriving gradually.
Suddenly, more security operatives comprising of the DSS, Mobile Police and police officers arrived with sirens blazing.
I was putting my equipment together when suddenly I saw a patrol van (White Hilux) with 7 police men surround us. They wrestled my camera away from me, forcefully took my phones and before I could say jack, they landed Solomon of Punch newspaper a slap, grabbed him by his belt and accused him of being part of the protesters. The police were led by one Ugochukwu U.C.
Solomon showed them his ID card which was forcefully seized and damaged in the process. One of them pointed a gun at him. He asked what his offence was and stated his ID card was enough evidence to show he was not part of the protesters. But they didn’t care about any identification.
I was also questioned but didn’t give room for them to rough handle me, I was calmly addressing them throughout.
We were immediately dispossessed of our belongings. Solomon was bundled into their patrol van and we all drove off to River Park police station. We pleaded with them to allow us communicate with our offices but they disagreed. The seized items were 1 power-bank, 3 phones, 1 Camera, 1Tripod and Punch ID card (All Later released to us).
We got to the station at about 8:00am and were released at exactly 12:10pm, 4hrs later. The leader of the team UC Ugochukwu gave orders to the officers not to release us until Dunamis Church concluded all services. They held 3 different services today.
The officer on duty got a phone call and was asked to release us, followed by strict instructions from the caller.
Before our release an officer took our office addresses and personal phone numbers and warned us not to go back to Dunamis again. He also warned us against reporting our arrest.”
No charges were filed against any of the correspondents.
