Officers of Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) attached to the Nasarawa State Pensions Bureau in Lafia have attacked journalists for taking pictures of a document pasted on the board’s notice board.
The brutalised journalists are Mr Rabiu Omaku of Universal Reporters, an online medium; and Mr. Gambo Ahmed of Peoples Daily.
The reporters had gone to the bureau to take photographs of the list of de-listed pensioners pasted on the notice board on Friday, when they were attacked.
Omaku said that he went to the bureau after receiving information that some pensioners have been de-listed for allegedly dragging the state government to court over their entitlements.
“When I arrived in the office, I went to the notice board to snap the names pasted on it, but the bureau’s Information Officer, Mr Ibrahim Dawaya, directed personnel of the NSCDC to seize my phone.
“I was surprised and refused to surrender the phone which infuriated them and they pounced on me.
“One of them started hitting me on my face, while the other broke my head with the butt of his gun.
“Not long after, other journalists were alerted and they rushed in to intervene, but the security personnel did not spare them. They started beating them, injuring Gambo Ahmed of People’s Daily in the process,” he said.
The victims received treatment at the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia.
Meanwhile, the Commandant of NSCDC in the state, Malam Mohammad Mahmoud-Fari, has condemned the assault on the journalists.
“I have deployed our intelligence officers to ascertain what really happened; I will get to the root of this incident, sure.
“I want to assure you that all those found to have been involved in the assault will be punished,” Mahmoud-Fari said.
Mr Suleiman Abubakar, Chairman of the Correspondents Chapel in Nasarawa State, condemned the attack and called for more protection for journalists.
“We cannot continue like this; journalists have become easy prey for security agents.
“The action of the pension bureau officials clearly indicates that they have something to hide; otherwise, why will they batter a journalist obtaining information from a notice board?,” Abubakar queried.
