BY YEN NG, SEPTEMBER 14, 2024 | 10:23 AM

Security operatives stationed at Lagos Street Bridge harassed YERWA EXPRESS NEWS reporters who were working to provide situation reports on the Maiduguri Flood on Friday.

This is even as the team was by Abdulhamid Al-Gazali, the editor-in-chief, who was on ground to guide his team and coordinate information circulation across the city for effective humanitarian response to the victims of the disaster.

A police officer drew attention of the team to move from a part of the bridge because he 'thinks' it was not strong enough.

But after moving to a new spot, about 50 meters away, another younger policeman approached the team and started shouting at them.

'You look like an educated person, but you are behaving like an illiterate,' the policeman told the editor-in-chief who was guiding the team to record how the water receded, as well as the damage suffered by the bridge.

Even though the spot was safe and had many people already standing by, including several policemen, he chose the newsmen to launch his aggression.

'He tried to seize Al-Gazali's phone and made violent moves against him. If it weren't for how he (Al-Gazali) stood his grounds, the police may have gone physical,' Usman Mohammed, a member of the team narrated.

'Our editor-in-chief only asked him to stop shouting at him and his team just because he was in uniform.

'He told him that we were also doing our work as journalists, but this did not stop the police,' he added.

He (the police) went on to shop his colleagues into the exchange, including members of the Civilian JTF, by saying that he (Al-Gazali) insulted him.

'The police told Al-Gazali he was "very stupid" for telling him not to shout at his team. The editor told him to respect his uniform and conduct himself with civility,' Mohammed further narrated.

It took passers-by's intervention to calm the situation, after which the team abandoned the work and left the place in the interest of peace.

The team was at the bridge to give live update of the condition of the bridge and also how the water receded to feed the newspaper's 24-hour situation room, which was set up since the flood broke out.

'Since I started working with him eight years ago, this is the first I am with him in the field because the flood has been very worried. I am one of the privileged few in our team to have ever been with the editor in the field,' Mohammed added.

The bridge was inaccessible from Monday night until yesterday Thursday when the water level receded.