Political thugs assault photo journalists
By Sam Awoyinfa, Kemi Obasola, Akin Oyedele, Lekan Adetayo, Friday Olokor, Toyosi Ogunseye
Published: Monday, 27 Apr 2009

Three photojournalists from different media organisations were on Sunday assaulted by political thugs at the house of a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ayo Arise, in Oye-Ekiti.
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PUNCH photojournalist, Mr. Segun Bakare, (arrowed) being assaulted and his camera seized by suspected members of the Peoples Democratic Party in Oye Ekiti, on Sunday

Their cameras, GSM handsets and money were seized by the fierce-looking men and women who threatened to kill them if they refused to vacate the vicinity of the senator’s house.

The affected photo journalists are Mr. Segun Bakare of THE PUNCH, David Idowu (Horizon Express), and Dare Fasube (Vanguard), who were in the town to cover the rescheduled election in two wards of Oye LG.

The journalists, who were in a convoy of two cars, had noticed a commotion at a road block opposite the senator’s house when they disembarked to capture the scene.

Narrating the incident, Fasube said that the riot policemen had stopped two Toyota Hilux vans and a black jeep, conveying Senator Femi Kila, who was allegedly being trailed by men of the Criminal Investigation Bureau.

He said “Senator Femi Kila was in the black jeep that was between the Toyota cars. One of the Toyota cars was marked 565 ABC, while the second vehicle had no number plate.

“The CIB men who were following the convoy shouted at the policemen at the road block to stop the vehicles for a search. When the vehicles were searched, pump action rifles were discovered.”

Before the thugs descended on them, he said the battered journalists sought the permission of the police to record the scene and they were obliged.

In his own account, Idowu said, “We also noticed that the occupants of a saloon car objected to the police search.

“When we finished taking our photographs, we introduced ourselves to Kila and greeted him warmly. As we were returning to where we parked our cars, a woman raised the alarm that we were agents of the Action Congress.

“She said we were sent by a former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to Ekiti State to spy on them. She slapped and punched me. She collected my camera and walked into Arise’s house.”

Bakare also identified one of the assailants as one Bose Arise, whom he said Senator Arise introduced to journalists, on Friday, as “Bose, my wife.”

Bakare, who was the worst hit, said that Idowu was the first victim of the attack, before the attackers descended on other photojournalists for capturing the photograph of the assault.

He said, “Bose, who wore a brown blouse and jeans, pulled my cloth; she gave me a dirty slap and collected my camera. She signalled to four hefty men who joined her to deal with us.

“Other men among those being housed by Arise, including women, later joined the fray to assault us.

“ Bakare said, “One of the thugs said ‘PUNCH, you think you can take photographs, abi? We saw you taking photographs yesterday and we’ve seen your paper. So you want to take more?’

“They poked their fingers in my eyes and started beating me. They collected my camera and crushed the lenses. As they were beating me, I saw Senator Arise and ran to him, complaining that the thugs had seized my camera.

“He demanded to know which of the thugs was in possession of my camera and I pointed to the man who collected the camera. I lost N5,000 and my identity card to the incident.

“At that point, Arise simply nodded and said, ‘ok’ and went back inside his house. He did not come out again until the thugs ordered us to leave Arise’s house, with a stern warning not to move to any other part of the town, else, they would kill us.”

But the luckiest among the photo journalist, Fasube, said riot policemen, who witnessed the brutality retrieved his camera that was flung into a nearby bush by the thugs.

He said, “They beat me too but the police helped me collect my camera.”

The Deputy Editor of Horizon Express, who witnessed the scene, Mr. Abiodun Oyebowale, said the incident happened in the full glare of Arise and Kila, who did nothing to salvage the situation.

He said, “What we don’t know was why the senators did not want the police to search the car suspected to be carrying arms and ammunition.

“When they discovered that The PUNCH photographer was the one who took the pictures that were splashed on the pages of the Sunday edition of the paper, they descended on him and beat him to a pulp, after which they seized his camera.

“After The PUNCH photographer and his colleagues had been dealt with, Arise called a police boss on the phone, after which the car bearing the arms and ammunition were released to him. The cars were later driven into Arise’s house.

“It was after this that a security aide came out of Arise’s house to meet the policemen and threatened the photojournalists that if they did not leave Oye immediately, they would be killed.”

Oyebowale noted that Kila was in a black Toyota jeep marked Lagos KF 277 KJA (Senator 61) and also drove into Arise’s house after the incident.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Ekiti State Chapter, has condemned the attacks on journalists during the conduct of the rerun election, which the union described as “barbaric and uncalled for.”

An e-mail by the State Chairman, Mr. Tai Oguntayo, on Sunday, said it was regrettable that journalists were always at the receiving end during the conduct of elections.

In his reaction, Arise said, “This is part of propaganda.

I learnt some people reacted in an unruly manner but I do not know them. My wife did not step out of our house till 5pm (just now). So it is all lie.”

The Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Lekan Adekanbi, also informed one of our correspondents on Sunday that Bakare’s camera and money would be retrieved and released to him. But the promise had not been kept as at press time.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200904277421412

Hmm

Paparazzi Photo Journalists and co, be warned

Those aint thugs , they seem like the politician's wives and sons

that's me in the purple blouse and jeans





btw, I know this is a serious matter, but is this journalist saying he was beaten up by women?

tpiah:

that's me in the purple blouse and jeans





btw, I know this is a serious matter, but is this journalist saying he was beaten up by women?

btw, I know this is a serious matter, but is this journalist saying he was beaten up by women?

LOL, i wonder