TheCable

Shortly after Mohammad Adamu, the inspector-general of police, disbanded the special anti-robbery squad (SARS), Francis Ogbonna, a cameraman with ARISE TV, was assaulted by operatives of the force.

According to Ferdinand Duruoha, a reporter of ARISE TV who was with Ogbonna, the incident occurred shortly after Adamu announced the dissolution of SARS.

Some crew members of the TV station were at the briefing where the IGP announced the ban on SARS.

Duruoha narrated how his colleague was assaulted by the police while they were trying to get the reactions of some protesting youths on the disbandment of SARS.

“We took the IG’s message live on Twitter banning SARS, and on returning from that particular interview, we saw some youth along the road, protesting,” he said.

“While we where trying to speak to them and get their takes on the IG’s message, we where attacked by policemen who brutally assaulted Francis and broke his camera.

“This is the result of that brutalisation. I am about taking him to the hospital but then we just need to get this as a sign of evidence of what the police has done.”

Police brutality continues. ARISE News cameraman beaten up by policemen shortly after the IG’s speech disbanding SARS. #EndSARS #PoliceBrutality #PoliceBrutalityInNigeria #EndPoliceBrutalityinNigeria #ReformNigeriaPolice pic.twitter.com/vqdELtLOdk

— ARISE News Feed (@ARISEtv) October 11, 2020

There have been reports of attacks on protesters since the #EndSARS campaign began last week.

TheCable had reported how police dispersed a crowd of protesters with live bullets, water cannons and tear gas.