Abuja Journalist Alleges FRSC Personnel Tried To Arrest Him For Filming Officer’s Clash With Driver
Ajibola Amzat, an investigative journalist based in Abuja, has recounted a recent incident involving officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). According to Amzat, the officers allegedly tried to arrest him after he recorded a confrontation between one of their personnel and a motorist along Wuse Market Road on Thursday morning.
Amzat, who shared his ordeal on Facebook, said the incident occurred during his morning walk when he witnessed an FRSC officer identified as Officer Monday forcefully confront a driver accused of beating a traffic light.
The officer reportedly opened the driver’s car door and placed himself inside the vehicle, leading to a heated shouting match.
The journalist said he decided to record the scene, describing the incident as one that “almost turned violent.”
“Are the Federal Road Safety officials becoming a threat to road safety in Abuja, or are the motorists in Abuja becoming more lawless?” he wrote on Facebook.
“I witnessed a drama this morning that almost turned violent while doing my morning walk.”
“And yours truly could have been a victim for being a nosy journalist.
“But you know, a journalist’s instinct easily dismisses danger when you see a story.”
Amzat also criticised the FRSC for not relying on the Safe City surveillance technology installed on Abuja roads to track and fine traffic violators electronically. Instead, he alleged, officers prefer stopping vehicles manually and sometimes negotiating off-the-record payments with drivers.
“FRSC would rather stop drivers and fine them on the spot. Most times they would negotiate with the drivers to pay less so that his or her name would not enter the records of traffic offenders,” he said.
According to him, Officer Monday took offence at being recorded and called his colleagues to the scene. Five FRSC officers reportedly surrounded Amzat and demanded he hand over his phone.
“I told him I would stop when he stopped disgracing the public uniform he was wearing,” the journalist wrote.
Amzat said he feared he might be assaulted or unlawfully detained, recalling a similar experience while covering the Osun governorship election in 2018.
However, he was rescued when a group of Hausa-speaking young men who had witnessed the scene intervened and helped him escape.
“They led me out of trouble. And asked that I make the video I recorded public,” he said.
