Thugs suspected to be APC loyalists in Nasarawa State on Friday beat Daily Trust correspondent in the state, Mr. Hir Joseph to a state of coma during Governor TankoAl-Makura’s inauguration in Lafia, the state capital.
Some of the thugs whose number continued to increase, woe white T-Shirts with the inscription: TA'AL, the short for Tanko Al-Makura, a popular campaign slogan of the governor.
Two thugs marched to the reporter while he standing with his colleagues by the elevated platform where the governor was taking the oath.
It was learnt that the thugs were angry over an analysis the reporter made on President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Al-Makura recently, and also accused Joseph of writing unwanted reports in the state.
The incident occurred at 11.30 am, shortly after the governor and his deputy, Mr. Salias Agara, took their oaths of office at the Lafia parade ground. Security operatives were able to rescue Joseph after throwing teargas canisters at the miscreants and chasing them away.
Joseph was later rushed to Dalhatu Specialist Hospital, Lafia for medical treatment.
Narrating his ordeal to our correspondent, Joseph said, “I was watching the inauguration with some colleagues when the thugs who had the inscription ‘Ta’Al Boys’ on their T-shirts demanded that I follow them.
“I asked why they wanted me to follow them but they gave no answer. Rather, they pounced on me and dragging me at the same time. I only woke up in the hospital after.”
Journalists who tried to take photographs of the attack on their colleagues were accosted by the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor, Mr. Yakubu Lamai, who was also sighted in a fisticuff with some security operatives, who snapped the scene with their phones.
“Instead of try to help the reporter, who was crying for help, the governor's CPS was trying to block us from taking photo shots. He even attempted snapping our phones and cameras from our hands,” a colleague of Hir said.
Some reporters were threatened to leave the venue of the inauguration immediately.
The reporter was rushed to a nearby hospital, by a team of personnel of the Red Cross, who blare their ambulance siren, to pave the way out of the crowd of people at the venue of the inauguration.
The chairman of the state’s correspondent chapel, Suleman Abubakar, condemned the act and vowed to take the matter up with the appropriate authorities and ensure that such incident was not repeated.
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