I Couldn’t Walk After Being Hit By Teargas Canister While Covering #EndBadGovernance Protest – Nigerian Journalist

Mary Adeboye, a Nigerian journalist who was reporting for News Central Television, was injured while covering the #EndBadGovernance protest in Abuja on Thursday. 

She was struck by a teargas canister fired by police at Eagle Square in the Federal Capital Territory. 

The incident occurred as police deployed teargas against protesters demonstrating against Nigeria's economic crisis. Adeboye identified the officer who fired the canister that hit her leg, and told SaharaReporters she is still unable to walk due to the pain.

She said, “My experience during the protest was so terrible. I was not standing close to the protesters. I was standing beside them when they were shooting the teargas.

"We were trying to move from where they were shooting the teargas. I wasn't facing the police, and I wanted to move to the other side. While moving, I saw the policeman who shot the tear gas, and it hit my leg. In fact, it is still painful and I can't use it to walk right now. 

"When I felt it hit my leg, I thought it was a gunshot and that my leg was already damaged but all thanks to the rubber shoe I wore, it saved my leg. If not, it would have peeled off my skin but the rubber shoe really saved me.”

"I am not feeling okay, the pain is too much for me. It's unbearable," she added. 

The International Press Centre (IPC) has condemned attacks and arrest of journalists and other media professionals while covering the ongoing nationwide protest by Nigerians.

The IPC in a statement issued by its Press Freedom Officer, Melody Akinjiyan, on Thursday, said information gathered by its journalists’ Safety of Journalists Alert room revealed that a number of journalists and media professionals faced one form of attack or the other including physical assault, harassment, denial of access to cover the protest, amongst others in the Abuja, Lagos and other states of the federation.

The Centre noted that in FCT, Lagos, Kano, Cross River, and Delta states, some of the affected journalists were injured, arrested or had their working tools destroyed.