Activist Yele Sowore was on Monday mauled by men of the Department of State Services and officers of the Nigeria Police where he went to cover and monitor the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Sowore was beaten up far away from the entrance of the Federal High Court in Abuja, venue of the trial of the IPOB leader.
Sowore was thereafter whisked, with his camera confisticated.
TNG reports all roads leading to the Federal High Court, Central Area were blocked on Monday, as the trial of Kanu commenced.
Sowore tweeted at about 11:09 am that he was “just Arrested by @PoliceNG at the Federal High Court in Abuja!”
Speaking to SaharaReporters, Sowore said he was brutalised by the police during his arrest and taken to the Federal Secretariat police station.
“I have just been arrested by the Nigerian Police at the Federal High Court. Subjected to beatings by police officers and taken to the Federal Secretariat police station,” he said.
It was gathered that armed operatives descended on the activist, beat him up and bundled him into a vehicle alongside the cameraman who was livestreaming for him.
Kanu, who was earlier extradited into Nigeria from a foreign country, is facing terrorism-related charges before Justice Binta Nyako.
Journalists at the entrance to the court are barred by DSS officers from entering the court on the ground that they were not accredited to cover the trial.
Details shortly…