…Referred to NEC again for treatment.
by Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
Mr. Idibia Gabriel, the Kaduna-based investigative journalist, who was arrested, tortured and brutalized by operatives of the Nigerian Police, Kaduna State Command, is moving from eye centre to another seeking for treatment of eye injury he sustained as a result of the assault.
He was on Friday 5th July, 2024 referred back to National Eye Centre (NEC), a Federal Medical eye hospital located in Kaduna, for diagnosis test by Dr. Paul Favour.
Idibia had his appointment referred from 44 Army Reference Hospital Kaduna for eye diagnosis test for the second time after a thorough routine check on his eye on the Friday morning by doctors.
His referral request paper to NEC, dated 5th July 2024, reads in parts: “44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, 7 Sokoto Road, Kaduna. Request for Special Examination. F.MED 12. To: Laboratory/X- Ray, urgent, routine. Diagnosis: flashes of light? Pvd blow injury to the left eye -4/52, as clinically-relevant information.”
This is against rumours making rounds that the journalist was arrested but did not sustain any eye injury or tortured by police, as amplified by sections of unpatriotic enemies of journalists, who are self-centered, and do not believe in principles of proper verification.
Recall that the victim journalist and two others were arrested by police for taking snapshots of a large number of herds of cattle shepherded by a number of uniformed policemen along Kachia highway, around U/Boro in Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna Town, on 11th June, 2024, and has been going places seeking for treatment for the eye injury.
According to the victim journalist, who on that fateful day had consulted with the police before taking the picture, his cell phone and identity card were seized before he was arrested by police and taken to CID office in Kaduna where he was detained, physically tortured and mentally brutalized before he was released.
Several responsible private organizations, including Coalition for Whistleblowers Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF), Centre for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID), and other journalists’ protection bodies have condemned Nigerian Police’s action, describing it as unlawful and fall far below standard practices.