From Paul Orude, Bauchi
Security operatives attached to Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed are threatening to deal with journalists while performing their duties.
The journalists who are members of the Correspondents’ Chapel were at the Palace of Emir of Katagum on Thursday when the Governor visited the local government after a violent protest where hoodlums razed the Council Secretariat, a former deputy governor’s house among ithers in Azare.
The incident occurred inside the Palace Hall when the journalists were trying to find where to record the Governor’s speech before an operative of DSS simply identified as Abdul ordered them to vacate the hall.
The journalists were looking for an alternative spot to get their job done within the hall before he went to them again to threaten them by saying: “This is just the beginning,” even as the governor, in company with other dignitaries, had seated next to his host, the emir of Katagum.
“You challenged me? You will see. This thing that you have done, this is the beginning,” he warned the journalists, much to the surprise of witnesses in the palace.
One of the journalists replied saying this sounded like a threat, but he maintained his utterance that he would deal with the journalists.
“He once molested me at a function, he is quite aggressive,” a government House crew journalist who pleaded anonymity, said.
Similarly, some of the personnel had on Thursday last week brutalised a person living with disability identified as Hamza Waziri who is now being hospitalised at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital.
Waziri was participating in the #EndBadGovernance protest in front of the government house. He was seen in a trending video clip where four police officers attached to the Government House entrance were assaulting him.
Aisha Dogara, a resident of Bauchi who participated in the protest, was assaulted with her clothes torn. Bruises were seen all over her body.