The Coalition for Whistleblowers Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) has demanded an immediate inquiry into the physical assault and harassment of Sunday Michael Ogwu, the editor of Pinnacle Daily, by officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and members of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) in Abuja.
In a formal statement released Thursday, the coalition urged Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tunji Disu and the FCT Police Command to identify, arrest, and discipline the officers involved in the attack, which reportedly took place under the supervision of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the Lugbe Police Division.
According to the CWPPF, the incident occurred around 5:00 PM on August 19 at the Lugbe Federal Housing Estate (FHA) in Abuja, where Ogwu encountered a joint demolition exercise involving approximately four police patrol vans and VGN personnel.
Trouble began when Ogwu attempted to film the exercise with his mobile phone. A police officer snatched the device without warning. Despite Ogwu clearly identifying himself as a journalist, officers surrounded him and ordered him into a patrol van alongside several detained youths. When Ogwu refused, maintaining that he was a working journalist rather than a suspect, officers repeatedly struck him with an electric cable on the direct orders of the officer in charge.
Following the initial altercation, Ogwu retrieved his phone and walked roughly 100 meters away to record a video documenting the assault and send a distress message to his media organization. Noticing him filming again, officers pursued him, dragged him back to the demolition site, and subjected him to a second round of flogging after the officer in charge declared the first beating “was not enough.”
The assault left Ogwu injured and resulted in severe damage to his phone before intervening bystanders persuaded him to leave for his safety. Condemning the incident as “unprovoked brutality” and an act of “lawlessness,” the coalition emphasized that documenting the public operations of law enforcement is a constitutionally protected right, not a crime.
