Omoyele Sowore, publisher of SaharaReporters, an online newspaper, has been hit by a teargas canister shot at him by the police in Abuja on Monday morning.
Police reportedly fired to prevent Sowore and some people from staging a rally at Unity Fountain to protest the worsening security situation in the country.
Sowore reportedly fell to the ground after being hit by the canister and has been rushed to the hospital. Some activists claim it was a bullet from a police rifle.
A fellow activist, Deji Adeyanju, who confirmed the incident, said Sowore has been rushed to a hospital for medical attention.
A lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, also tweeted: “@YeleSowore has just been shot by a female police officer at the Unity Fountain in Abuja.
“The criminal officer is said to be an ACP. I watched Sowore being shot live on Facebook.”
Meanwhile, the FCT Police Command has denied that Sowore was shot.
The spokesperson for the command, Mariam Yusuf, said: “The operatives simply resisted protesters who went on the rampage.
“The FCT Police Command wishes to debunk the viral message in some sections of the social media purporting that Omoyele Sowore was shot by a female Assistant Commissioner of Police at the Unity Fountain.”
“Contrary to the speculation, police operatives professionally restored calm at the Unity Fountain following attempts by a group of protesters to incite public disturbance.
“The protesters who went on the rampage were resisted by police operatives in order to prevent them from causing a breakdown of law and order. There is no record of such incident as at the time of this release,” a statement said.
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