Nigerian police detain, assault journalist Kasarahchi Aniagolu

Police officers detained, slapped, bodily assaulted, and hit Aniagolu with a gun. A reporter with the privately owned newspaper The Whistler, she was reporting on a police raid of a currency trading area in Wuse, a business hub in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on February 21, 2024, according to reports by privately owned news website Sahara Reporters and her outlet, and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ. “Nigerian authorities must hold accountable the police officers who detained, attacked, and harassed journalist Kasarahchi Aniagolu after she tried to report on a police raid in Abuja,” said CPJ Africa Program Head Angela Quintal from New York. “The officers’ behavior was doubly reprehensible as they are responsible for the safety of Nigerian citizens, including journalists.” Aniagolu was on a separate reporting assignment when she encountered the police raid and approached a male officer, showing her press identification, to request a formal interview, the journalist and Nnaemeka Wondrous, head of the law and judiciary desk at The Whistler, told CPJ by phone. The officer declined, and another nearby officer told Aniagolu to stop filming until the police were done, which she did. After about ten minutes, the officers began to leave, and Aniagolu again began to film and photograph the scene. A female officer noticed and approached Aniagolu, angrily asked who had given her permission to cover the incident, and slapped Aniagolu’s face; another officer hit her on the hand with their gun, and then the female officer dragged the journalist into a police van, according to those sources.