CWPPF Condemns Alleged Police Assault on Abuja Journalist Despite Court Ruling
By Babaji Usman Babaji
The Coalition for Whistleblower Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) has condemned the alleged assault, harassment and destruction of the phone belonging to Pinnacle Daily editor, Sunday Michael Ogwu, by police officers during a demolition exercise in Abuja.
The coalition, comprising 31 media and civil society organisations and law firms, described the incident as a fresh violation of the constitutionally protected rights of Nigerians to document police activities.
In a statement issued on Thursday, CWPPF said Ogwu was assaulted on Wednesday, 19 August, while documenting a joint demolition operation around Lugbe Federal Housing Estate.
According to the coalition, Ogwu encountered about four police Hilux patrol vans marked ‘Lugbe Police Division’, alongside members of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), at about 5.30pm.
The journalist reportedly took out his mobile phone to record the operation, but a police officer allegedly seized the device.
CWPPF said Ogwu repeatedly identified himself as a journalist and attempted to speak with the team leader, but that the officers allegedly surrounded him, arrested some local youths and ordered him into a patrol van.
When he refused, citing his status as a journalist, the officers allegedly flogged him with an electric cable on the instruction of the officer in charge.
The situation reportedly escalated after Ogwu was initially allowed to leave.l
According to CWPPF, the journalist moved about 100 metres away, where he resumed recording the incident and sent a distress message to his media organisation.
The officers allegedly noticed him recording, pursued him, dragged him back to the demolition site and subjected him to another round of flogging.
CWPPF said the assault left Ogwu injured and severely damaged his mobile phone before passers-by intervened and advised him to leave the area.
The coalition insisted that recording public operations conducted by state agents is not a criminal offence.
CWPPF called on the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu and the FCT Police Command to order an immediate and transparent investigation into the incident and identify and discipline the police and VGN personnel involved.
It also demanded compensation for Ogwu’s damaged phone, payment of his medical expenses and a public apology to the journalist and Pinnacle Daily.
The coalition further urged the police authorities to direct divisions across the Federal Capital Territory to stop intimidating, harassing and physically assaulting journalists covering public events.
Court affirmed right to film police
The alleged assault comes months after a Federal High Court judgment in Warri, Delta State, affirming Nigerians’ right to record police officers while they are performing their duties in public.
In March 2026, Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, in a judgment on a fundamental rights suit filed by lawyer Maxwell Nosakhare Uwaifo, held that Nigerians have a constitutional right to record police officers performing their duties in public.
The judgment, delivered in Suit No. FHC/WR/CS/87/2025, also directed police officers engaged in public operations to wear visible name tags and display their force numbers or other proper identification.
The court further ruled that police officers must not harass, intimidate or arrest citizens, or confiscate their devices, for recording police activities.
Uwaifo instituted the suit following an encounter with police officers during a stop-and-search operation at Sapele Roundabout while travelling from Benin to Warri on 10th May, 2025.
He argued that citizens’ right to record law enforcement officers engaged in public duties was protected by Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.
The court awarded him N5 million in damages for the violation of his fundamental rights, as well as an additional N2 million in litigation costs.
In December 2023, the Nigeria Police Force itself publicly stated that citizens were permitted to photograph or record police officers while they were on duty.
The then Force spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said filming or photographing officers was not an offence and that harassing people who recorded police activities constituted misconduct.
CSP Anietie Iniedu, head of the Police Complaint Response Unit (CRU), described the ruling as transformative, saying video recordings could strengthen police accountability by providing direct evidence for investigations.
He said the judgment gave the CRU judicial backing to treat video evidence as legitimate complaint documentation and would help shift policing from reactive complaint handling towards proactive accountability.
Iniedu also said the requirement for visible identification of officers would help address what he described as ‘anonymous abuse’.
