Thugs Attack Senators, Journalists In Kaduna

Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai

The thugs stormed the NUJ secretariat, venue of the conference, and attacked the group leaders, Senator Othman Hunkuyi, Shehu Sani and others as well as journalists.
A press conference by a splinter group of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the APC Akita, was disrupted by armed thugs yesterday afternoon.

The thugs stormed the NUJ secretariat, venue of the conference, and attacked the group leaders, Senator Othman Hunkuyi, Shehu Sani and others as well as journalists.

The thugs were led by the Divisional Police Officer for Gabasawa division CSP Abdullahi into the premises of the secretariat while the briefing was going on.

The thugs had tried to stop the press conference from holding but they were dispersed with tear gas until the DPO led them into the premises.

A video camera belonging to Liberty Television was broken while the cameraman was wounded.

Journalists at the venue later protested the action of the DPO and asked the police to leave the premises of the secretariat.

The state Commissioner of Police, Abah Agyole, later visited the state secretariat of the NUJ and assured them that investigation would be conducted into the matter and that the DPO would be dealt with if the allegations against him turned out to be true.

Reacting, Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai said nobody would be allowed to stifle freedom of expression.

In a message to the Kaduna State Council of the NUJ, the governor condemned the mob action by hoodlums. The message, signed by Samuel Aruwan, spokesman to the governor, said, “The government of Kaduna State upholds the principles of free speech and respects the freedom of expression. Politics should not be a desperate game. And desperation should not be visited on journalists or any citizen.”