IPI Nigeria Demands Investigation, Prosecution Of Security Agents Who Fired Live Bullets At Journalists

<h4>IPI Nigeria Demands Investigation<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that the Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute &lpar;IPI Nigeria&rpar; has condemned&comma; in strong terms&comma; the deployment of excessive force against journalists covering the nationwide protests&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This condemnation is contained in a statement jointly signed by Musikilu Mojeed&comma; President&comma; IPI Nigeria and Tobi Soniyi&comma; Legal Adviser&comma; IPI Nigeria&comma; made available to OpenLife Sunday afternoon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The statement stated that on Saturday&comma; August 3rd&comma; 2024&comma; several journalists covering the &num;EndBadGovernance protests were shot at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja by security agents wearing hoods&period; The journalists narrowly escaped unhurt&comma; but bullets damaged one of their cars&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The shooting happened at the main entrance of the stadium&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The firing of what is suspected to be live ammunition is unacceptable and is strongly condemned&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The shooting also appeared premeditated as the journalists were particularly targeted and shot twice within minutes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The security agencies knew where the journalists converged&period; Many of them wore vests&comma; with the word PRESS boldly written on them&period; Many had cameras and drove vehicles with press written on them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Saturday&&num;8217&semi;s shooting is even more worrisome as it came a day after the Chief of Defence Staff said on live television that journalists should stop giving protesters publicity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The IPI is hereby demanding an immediate investigation of the shooting incident at the stadium where journalists were targeted&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The officers involved&comma; reported to be personnel of the police and the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">State Security Service<&sol;a>&comma; should be identified and punished&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The media has a responsibility to cover the ongoing protests across the country&comma; and journalists must be allowed to carry out their constitutionally mandated role without interference and intimidation by anyone&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Targeting and shooting at journalists carrying out their lawful duties is tantamount to taking a wild shot at our democracy and it should be condemned by all&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;