The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, has commended the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, over his immediate response against the brutalization of Kofi Bartels, a broadcaster with Nigeria Info 92.3FM, Port Harcourt.

Peterside, who expressed shock over the inhuman treatment of the journalist by some officers of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Anti-Robbery Squad, F-SARS, said the action of the Inspector General would send a strong signal to the bad eggs in the Squad and the Nigeria Police Force, in general, that the Police Chief is ready to tackle cases of human rights violations committed against innocent Nigerians by some cops.

“The arrest of the FSARS personnel allegedly involved in the humiliation meted to the popular broadcast journalist is a strong leadership action and would prove to other irritant personnel in the Special Anti-Robbery Squad and the entire rank and file of the Nigeria Police Force that IGP Adamu is determined to clampdown cases of inappropriate behaviour among the officers and men. It is also in consonance with the recent steps taken by President Muhammadu Buhari when he received the report of the Presidential Panel on SARS Reform,” he stressed.

While sympathising with Mr. Bartels over the harrowing experience he suffered in the hands of the cops, Peterside, who said that journalists should not be gagged from performing their professional duty, which includes being watchdog of society, pledged to stand by the broadcast journalist.

The top marine administrator stated that journalists play a pivotal role in the development of every society, and should be counted as such and not as enemies.

“Journalists the world over are harbingers of solid development practices and enjoy respect, and as such, should be counted so in Rivers State. They are the watchdog that hold all Arms of Government accountable, and security agents are not excluded from such critical supervison”, the NIMASA DG said.

While praying for Bartels’ quick recovery from the injuries inflicted on him, Peterside commended journalists in Rivers State for exercising restraint in the face of provocation even as he noted that such indiscretion as exhibited by the FSARS operatives could have generated violent response from the gentlemen of press.

“Our journalists deserve respect and should be so accorded. Kofi Bartels has been a neutral umpire who uses the medium of radio to propagate fair, equitable and Justiciable Rivers society. He has maintained the strictest principles of balanced reportage even as he motivates robust dialogues in all his live radio programmes. The treatment handed to him is condemnable and does not represent what he deserves,” he declared.

He praised the Rivers State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, for standing with Bartels, saying their action has proven that the Union caters for its members and ready to share in their burden of grief.