An editor with the Nigerian online newspaper Pinnacle Daily, Sunday Michael Ogwu, was assaulted by police officers from the Lugbe Police Station in Abuja on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, while documenting a demolition exercise in the Lugbe area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
On the same day of his assault, Ogwu in a video posted on his Facebook account, explained that he was taking a stroll when he encountered what he described as a joint operation by police officers and vigilantes carrying out demolition work. He said he began recording the activity on his phone as a journalist to document what he considered a public function.
When confronted by officers who asked whether he had permission to cover the exercise, Ogwu replied that no special permission was required to report on public activities and that legitimate operations should not fear journalistic scrutiny.
Ogwu further stated that the officers seized his phone, beat him and asked him to leave. “I was given about ten strokes with electric cable and after I was given my phone and asked to leave the environment”, he said in the video posted on Facebook.
According to Pinnacle Daily, while leaving the demolition site, the police officers approached him again and accused him of having filmed them after they had already asked him to leave. The officers took him back to the scene and assaulted him again with an electric cable, damaging his phone in the process.
Following his second ordeal, Ogwu posted another video, on Facebook showing the bruises he sustained from the beating and his damaged phone.
A statement released by Josephine Adeh, the spokesperson of FCT Police Command stated that the Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Muhammed Sanusi had ordered an investigation into Ogwu’s allegation and that any officer found culpable would face disciplinary action.
Adeh also added that Ogwu had been invited several times to make a formal statement and submit evidence, yet Ogwu declined and continued to circulate videos of the incident online. The command then went ahead to formally invite Mr. Sunday Michael Ogwu to visit the Command Headquarters today, August 21, 2026, to make his official statement and present relevant evidence to substantiate his claims.
Ogwu said he declined the invitation because Adeh had earlier told reporters that the officers involved “could not have been” attached to the FCT Police Command and that police do not get involved in demolitions, which he took as a sign his account had already been dismissed before he was heard.
The Media Foundation for West Africa therefore calls on the Nigeria Police Force to conduct a prompt, independent, and transparent investigation into the alleged assault and harassment of journalist and ensure that any police officer or vigilante found guilty is held accountable.
