As the 2023 presidential election runs to an end, foreign and local election observers have shared their verdicts and some of the irregularities that occurred during the election. One of the areas considered is how journalists were treated during the election.
In a recent interview, Jonathan Rosen, a researcher of the Committee to Protect Journalists who has been observing the election in Nigeria revealed how many cases of harassments, attacks and detentions were recorded against journalists in the course of the election.
Mr Rosen revealed that altogether, they recorded a total of 14 cases of harassments, attacks and detentions of journalists during the election.
He also revealed how a journalist was detained in Bauchi and charged to court with allegations of inciting the public to protest. He said the police initially said they were taking him there for his own safety but later detained him till now.
In his words “We led the community that are here to follow the election. To document incidents that involve journalists being denied access, being harassed or being attacked and unfortunately on Saturday during the election we documented cases involving at least 14 journalists who were either detained, harassed or attacked”