Journalists Covering the Protest Movement in Nigeria were Beaten, Harassed & Fined by Law Enforcement

Opinion

NEW YORK, Nov 12 2021 (IPS) – The photos confirmed blood-soaked concrete, a gashed open thigh, and an injured protester grimacing in ache on the bottom. Taken by photojournalist Eti-Inyene Godwin Akpan on October 20, 2020, the photographs inform the story of Nigerian forces’ mass taking pictures of anti-police brutality protesters at Lagos’ Lekki Toll Gate, an incident the federal government continues to deny.

One 12 months after Akpan printed the photographs on social media, he deliberate to show them in Lagos at a museum exhibit marking the anniversary of the protests towards police brutality that swept Nigeria late final 12 months.

However he postponed the present indefinitely after receiving two calls summoning him, with out rationalization, to the native places of work of Nigeria’s Division of State Companies (DSS), a federal safety company.

“I now sleep with one eye closed, making an attempt to look at my again each second,” Akpan advised CPJ in a cellphone name. “They know I do know some issues and I’ve some pictures…”

The calls got here minutes after Akpan gave a live interview on native TV about his work documenting the 2020 protests. Akpan mentioned that he requested the callers for a proper, emailed summons.

He feared that with out it, the DSS may mistreat him or maintain him for a protracted interval with out entry to a lawyer or his household, the form of habits that CPJ has documented previously. The calls echoed intimidation ways he mentioned he confronted a 12 months earlier following his posting on social media in regards to the toll gate shooting – ways that led him to briefly flee the nation.

Reached by CPJ by way of messaging app, DSS spokesperson Peter Afunanya denied that his company known as Akpan in early October 2021. He additionally dismissed considerations over the DSS’ historical past of detaining journalists.

“Proper in entrance of my eyes, I noticed lifeless our bodies,” reads the caption on Akpan’s Instagram post from the October 2020 taking pictures that killed protesters, according to local and international media and rights groups. It was the deadliest incident in final 12 months’s protests, often known as the Finish SARS motion – a reference to the protesters’ name to dismantle Nigeria’s Particular Anti-Theft Squad unit.

Journalists protecting the protest motion were beaten, harassed, and fined by legislation enforcement. One reporter, Onifade Emmanuel Pelumi, was discovered lifeless at a mortuary on October 30, 2020; he was final seen alive in police custody after he coated unrest across the protests in Lagos.

Photographs of the Lekki Toll Gate killings are notably delicate, Akpan advised CPJ, as a result of they contradict the federal government’s account. In a press convention, Nigerian Minister of Info and Tradition Lai Mohammed marked October 20 this 12 months by calling it “the primary anniversary of the phantom bloodbath,” which befell “with out blood or our bodies.” Final 12 months the Nigerian military admitted it used dwell rounds on the toll gate, however mentioned its forces solely shot into the air.

After Akpan first printed the images, he advised CPJ that nameless callers pressured him to take down the Instagram publish and substitute it with one saying the photographs had been faux. He mentioned his checking account was frozen and that DSS brokers arrived at his workplace in search of him, which DSS spokesperson Afunanya denied.

After that, Akpan determined to heed pals’ recommendation to depart the nation. Within the days earlier than he fled, Akpan advised CPJ that he believed the photographs he had captured might contribute to the historic document of the protests. However to guard this proof for future generations and proceed his work, he wanted to be protected.

He fled to Ghana by crossing over land by means of Benin and Togo – a journey of a whole bunch of miles facilitated by CPJ and Maxime Domegni, an editor with the Global Investigative Journalism Network.

Akpan didn’t know anybody in Benin or Togo. Nor did he communicate the native languages of these two francophone international locations. However CPJ launched him to 2 native investigative journalists — Igance Sossou in Benin and Ferdinand Ayité in Togo – whose assist would show invaluable.

Sossou and Ayité have each confronted reprisal for his or her work and advised CPJ in separate interviews that they agreed to help Akpan out of journalistic solidarity.

“I perceive the chance hanging over journalism within the West African sub-region,” Sossou, who was arrested in late 2019, imprisoned for six months, and fined over social media posts, advised CPJ by way of messaging app. “If you’re a journalist who skilled what I skilled between 2019 and 2020 in Benin, you might be essentially delicate to the case of Eti-Inyene.”

After Akpan slipped throughout Nigeria’s western border, he met Sossou in Cotonou, Benin’s financial capital. Sossou mentioned he assisted Akpan with altering his cash into native foreign money and discovering a automotive and driver to move him to Togo’s border, which Akpan crossed on foot earlier than discovering a cab to Lomé, Togo’s capital.

Ayité, whose newspaper L’Various has been repeatedly suspended and who continues to face harassment by authorities, advised CPJ he met Akpan in Lomé. Ayité organized and paid for Akpan’s dinner and in a single day lodging in addition to a bike driver who might safely navigate the border with Ghana the next morning. As soon as throughout, Akpan caught a bus from the Aflao border city to Accra.

“We’re simply journalists and we have now no borders. Wherever certainly one of us is threatened, all journalists are involved,” Ayité advised CPJ. “Solidarity should be the cardinal worth of our career and I believe that that is what guided Ignace Sossou and my modest self to return to the help of [Akpan].”

Akpan advised CPJ that his journey throughout Togo and Benin would have been “so troublesome, if not unimaginable” with out this help. “I might have been attacked or duped,” he mentioned. “It was an incredible collaboration.”

After arriving in Accra, a good friend helped Akpan discover lodging. He stayed in hiding for 4 months however determined to return to Nigeria in February 2021. The stresses of exile, exacerbated by the pandemic, made him battle with loneliness and melancholy, he mentioned.

“I felt that there was nonetheless work for me to do in Nigeria. These tales [of the protests] nonetheless should be advised,” Akpan mentioned, including that he initially prevented telling his mom and sisters of his return as a result of it could make them fear.

Regardless of one sister’s recommendation by no means to set foot again in Nigeria, he felt that the protests had diminished sufficient to scale back the chance. However the intimidating calls returned this October, as Akpan promoted his photograph exhibition.

Akpan advised CPJ that the callers claiming to be DSS brokers by no means despatched him an emailed summons, as he had requested. After their calls, he obtained different calls from folks asking him questions on his images.

He mentioned the folks claimed to be potential purchasers, however when he requested the callers ship their particulars over electronic mail, they by no means adopted up, compounding his fears. He mentioned he now takes further precautions to safe his communications and retailer his info.

But, Akpan has not stopped making an attempt to document historic occasions. He went out along with his digital camera on this 12 months’s October 20 anniversary to {photograph} a memorial marking the Lekki Toll Gate killings, the place journalists had been once more attacked by police.

The solidarity he skilled during the last 12 months has given him braveness and strengthened his dedication to talking the reality, he advised CPJ. “I relaxation assured that I’m not alone,” he mentioned.

Jonathan Rozen is Senior Africa Researcher on the New York-based Committee to Defend Journalists (CPJ)