THE Bauchi State Police Command has replaced the items of Damina Yusuf, a reporter of the African Independent Television (AIT), lost while being brutalised by operatives attached to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) in the state.
Yusuf was assaulted while on official duty to cover a protest by the students of the Bauchi State College of Agriculture, Yelwa, in Bauchi metropolis three weeks ago.
He also lost his equipment and personal belongings before he was taken to the hospital for treatment.
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Apart from promptly condemning the attack, the Bauchi State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) directed its members to immediately boycott activities of the command with a view to giving it a total media blackout.
However, the State Commissioner of Police Sylvester Abiodun Alabi during a sympathetic visit to the NUJ secretariat apologised for the incident and also hold discussions with the leadership of the union, promising to compensate the victim.
Fulfilling the promise on Thursday at the state police command headquarters in Bauchi, Alabi presented a new laptop computer; two smartphones and a camera lost by the reporter during the ugly incident.
While commending the NUJ leadership in the state for calling off a planned street protest by its members against police brutality after he held a discussion with them, the state police boss pleaded for the lifting of the ban placed on the coverage of police activities in the state.
This, according to Alabi, was to enable the members of the public to know about police operations in the state.
He assured NUJ of the police readiness to work harmoniously with journalists in the best interest of the people of the state.
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