Journalism has become a dangerous profession.
A reporter with the Nigerian Tribune Newspaper, Laolu Harold, was, on Tuesday, beaten in Ibadan by soldiers attached to the Oyo State Government’s demolition task force.
The reporter, according to a witness, was going to work when he saw the team demolishing some shops around Alegongo area of Akobo.
His attempt to take the shot of the exercise was his undoing as two of the soldiers in the team spotted him and pounced on him.
The journalist narrated his experience in the hands of the soldiers saying “as I was just coming out of the street, I heard siren of military escort attached to the task force blaring and the soldiers jumped down from their various vehicles and started destroying the shops.”
He said he stood at a vantage position opposite where the demolition was being done and tried to take some shots; when two of the soldiers spotted and ran towards him.
“They slapped me severally, dragged me by the collar of my shirt and dragged me into one of their vans. They asked me to lie on the floor and one of them went for a three-prong whip with which they beat me.
“As if that was not enough, they dragged me out of the van and asked me to roll on the floor. While one of them kept beating me, the other was slapping me. At that time, they had impounded my digital camera.
“I sustained bruises, especially on my head. I don’t know why they were interested in beating me on the head. If I had not been defending my head, my face would have completely been distorted. Even up till the time they dragged me and instructed that I roll on the ground, they were still beating me,” the reporter recounted.
Mr. Harold is said to be on admittance at the University College Hospital where he is receiving treatment for the injury sustained due to the beating.
He is reportedly billed to undergo chest and spine X-ray.
Journalists have been the victims of brutalisation and human rights abuses from security agents in Nigeria.
Last year, Benedict Uwalaka, a photojournalist with Leadership Newspaper, was beaten to pulp at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
Also, a journalist working with BusinessDay Newspapers, Kehinde Akintola, was beaten in Abuja, by officials of the Department of Federal Capital Territory Road Transport Service, DRTS.
In December 2012, the Nigerian State Security Service brutalized two journalists and their wives, incarcerating the reporters unlawfully.
Source: Premium Times
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