The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Adewale Adepoju, has tendered an unreserved apology to the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) over the recent assault on journalists during the #TakeItBackProtest in Port Harcourt.
During a courtesy visit to the NUJ Rivers State Council on Friday, Adepoju announced the removal of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) overseeing the Abali Park area, where the incident occurred. The Commissioner expressed regret over the actions of the officers involved.
Describing the media as core partners of the police, the CP explained that the visit became necessary in order to maintain the working relationship, as he cautioned his men against further attack on journalists, warning that erring officers will be sanctioned accordingly.
“I leaned there was an issue in which some journalists were smoked and embarrassed, and I was not happy about it.
“I also saw from the PRO a publication in which the union members were not happy and registered their annoyance over what happened. Going through it, I wasn’t happy too. We’ve been working together well. We also know the adage, ‘The pen is mightier that the sword’ and you’ve been very helpful. I don’t see any reason why we have to be confronting ourselves,” he said.
Continuing he said, “And I want to believe that on that day, my men were out to protect live and property and ensure there’s peace and probably that criminals do not hijack the protest.
“When I went to find out what happened, the allegation was that they were coming and there was crowd and the road was barricaded and while they were trying to open the road, some people were throwing bottles at them and they smoked those people, and they were also trying to steal phones sets from them.
“But I know there must be a DPO on ground that day and he couldn’t provide any evidence to show that there was any road being blocked or they were being attacked. The only picture I saw was people being smoked. There was even one particular officer that I saw firing at people. That person is under detention now, and equally some of them who participated that day, because they couldn’t give me reasonable evidence why they should do that.
“We’ve been warning them and I am sure they’ll learn their lesson. I’ve told them to remove the DPO which they did that same day. And those other ones that are involved are being investigated to know exactly what happened.”
Adepoju berated his men for failing to provide proof of the alleged disruption of peace and attempts at stealing by the protesters as earlier claimed by the police.
“So I am purposely here to come and to apologise for what has happened and let you know that we are not taking it kindly. We are not in support of it and I’ll never be in support of that.
“We’re not supposed to be found in such situations. If at all there’s any reason to do that, there should be evidence to prove and it should be to protect people, not to attack people. There was no evidence to prove that they had a reason to smoke.
“I am here with my management team, to tell you sorry, we apologise for what might have happened. We want to promise that it will not repeat itself even though I can’t ascertain that because we can only say for ourselves but anybody who does such a thing after being warned will find himself to be blamed,” he said.
Responding, the NUJ Chairman in Rivers State, Paul Bazia, commended the police commissioner for the step taken so far to address the issue.
Bazia urged the CP to ensure the officers who assaulted the journalists are punished in accordance to the law and also demanded that an apology be sent to the various media houses of the affected journalists.
“Our simple request is that you identify some of those officers, especially the ones we saw in the videos. Like you have done to the DPO, we appreciate that. I think it will serve as a lesson to other people to be very careful in terms of engaging with civilians.
“We want those particular officers that harassed Channels TV correspondent, we want to see that punishments are meted to them, to deter them.
“We will like the police command to send the apology (written) to the journalists that were involved, individually and to their media houses. I hope that this doesn’t happen again so we can continue the peaceful relationship that we have,” he said.
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