Police Accused of Brutalising Kaduna Journalist for Snapping Cattle in Officers’ Custody on Highway

A KADUNA-BASED journalist, Idibia Gabriel, said he has been brutalised by officers of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) in the state for taking their pictures while transporting a herd of cattle they seized from a forest.

Idibia said he suffered eye injuries as a result of the torture and inhumane treatment meted out to him by the aggrieved officers. The Police have however denied claims of torture and brutalisation. 

In a chat with The ICIR on Thursday, June 20, Idibia said the incident happened on a public road on Tuesday, June 11.

According to him, he was apprehended and whisked to the CID Police Station in the Gabasawa area, in Kaduna, the state capital, on the allegation that he snapped them while they were transporting the cattle to an unknown destination.

The incident occurred around the Valid Oil filling Station, located near the busy Kachia Expressway at Angwan Boro, Kaduna, at about 8:30 in the morning.

He said he was detained and then freed in the evening after he was brutalised and the images he took were deleted from his phone.

He noted that following the brutal treatment he received while under police detention at the CID, Kaduna branch office, he was discharged with near blindness in one eye.