The unfortunate incident happened at about 3.30 pm when Dabai’s attention was called to witness a fleeing thief being pursued by the public as he was escaping from Nassarawa Hospital, where the police had taken him for treatment.
As the members of the public were in his pursuit and pelting him with stones, the thief fell in front of the station in Dabai’s presence, and the police officer in the station called the Area Command for intervention.
A press statement by the radio news manager, Mukhtar Usman, revealed that on the arrival of the police officers to re-arrest the culprit, Dabai was busy capturing the incident on camera as a journalist for his news beat.
The statement further read, “To his utmost surprise, without any provocation, one of the police officers confronted him to stop him, during which a fracas ensued.
“Despite identifying himself, with his ID card, as a journalist, Mr Dabai was forcefully manhandled by the policeman, who bundled him into their service vehicle, insisting that they must take him to the police station for interrogation and detention.
“In the process, Mr Dabai was brutalised, kicked, and slapped severally on their way to the police station and forced to lie on the vehicle floor.
“When Premier Radio urgently reported the incident to the Area Commander of the Metro Police Command to secure the release of Mr. Dabai, the Area commander rebuked his officers for their high-handedness.
“It was, however, noticed that the recalcitrant police officers were not only unrepentant but unapologetic.
“To this extent, we hereby demand justifiable sanction against the unrepentant and brutal officers, including an unconditional apology without which we are at liberty to seek legal redress.”
