Richard Oludare, a journalist with The Guardian newspaper was Tuesday brutally attacked and beaten to stupor by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Oludare who had come to carry out his legitimate duty of covering the protest march by the #FreeSowore campaigners at the head office of the DSS was attacked as the DSS moved to violently break up the protest and disperse the agitators.
The journalist who may have insisted on being allowed to do his job was set upon by several operatives of the DSS and was beaten to pulps; and left all battered and bloodied by men who should have been protecting him and defending his right to freely discharge his legitimate duty as a journalist.
Several others were injured with vehicles, recorders and cameras destroyed as the DSS unleashed illegitimate force on the peaceful protesters.
Deploying desperate measures, the DSS which is also famed as Nigeria’s secret police had opened fire on some journalists and protesters alike who were on ground at the peaceful protest at its headquarters in Asokoro, Abuja to press home the demand for the release of Mr. Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters.
Mr. Sowore has been held by the DSS for more than three months, in spite of the order of court granting him bail.
Sowore’s counsel, Femi Falana, had also accused the DSS of plotting to file additional charges against Mr Sowore in order to justify the continued detention of Sowore in their custody, which he declared as effectively illegal since Wednesday when Sowore met all bail conditions.
Ironically, the DSS claimed on Friday that it was holding Sowore because no one had come to pick him up.
