Kaduna APC Crisis: Thugs Invade NUJ Secretariat,
Attack Journalists
The crisis ravaging the Kaduna State All Progressives Congress
(APC) today took a different dimension when Senator Othman
Suleiman Hunkuyi and Senator Shehu Sani among other prominent members of the
party narrowly escaped being lynched by armed thugs at the secretariat of the Nigerian
Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Kaduna.
However, a cameraman with a private radio and
television station-Liberty radio and television-was seriously injured while their
camera was destroyed.
Several mobile phones and recorders belonging to journalists
were destroyed by the thugs who invaded the conference hall.
The hoodlums also smashed the windscreen of a car
belonging to the state Chairman of Action Democratic Party (ADP), Mr. Mordecai
Ibrahim, which was parked in the premises.
Hunkuyi, Sani and other top members of the APC
faction in the state were at the NUJ Press Centre to address a news conference
on the outcome of the recent election of delegates to APC National Convention
when hundreds of armed thugs said to be loyal to the special adviser to
Governor Nasir El-Rufai on politics, Mallam Uba Sani, invaded the press centre
and unleashed terror on the politicians and journalists.
The thugs had stormed the NUJ press centre after
they got wind of the press conference by the APC faction.
They were initially restricted to the gate by the
police, however, they later overpowered the police as more of them trooped to
the area and forced the gate opened.
Attempts by the police to disperse them with teargas did not
yield any results.
The Gabasawa Divisional Police Officer (DPO),
Abdullahi, who later arrived at the premises, allegedly led some thugs into the
conference hall where the press conference was going on.
Upon gaining access to the conference hall, with
knives and sticks they wielded, everybody in the hall scampered for safety
while the thugs destroyed mobile phones, recorders and the Liberty television
camera.
The senators were however whisked away as journalists rallied
round to defend themselves from the attack.
The state Commissioner of Police, Abah Agyole, later visited
the NUJ secretariat and assured them that the incident would be investigated.
Senator Hunkuyi who addressed the conference alleged
that the there was no election of delegates to the National Convention of the
APC, adding that the names of those who
emerged as delegates were written by an official of the state government.
"The list of the delegates was not known to
us. The list was fake, so we wrote two petitions to the National Secretariat of
the APC and the zonal office to buttress our grievances.
"We hope the national body would look into our
complaints and fixed another date," Hunkuyi said.
Before the press conference by Hunkuyi and his
group, the leadership of the party had also addressed journalists at its secretariat,
insisting that the delegate elections followed due process and that it was free,
credible and fair.
The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Salisu Tanko Wusono, said
the delegate election was attended by all the party officials from ward level to
the state level.
He said five officials from the national
secretariat of the APC came to supervise the state election, arguing that "we acted within
the party's guidelines as no party member was sidelined.
Meanwhile, El-Rufai has condemned the mob action at
NUJ secretariat.
In a statement by his spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, the
governor said nobody would be allowed to
stifle freedom of expression.
"Having been briefed on the situation, the
governor expressed sympathy with the NUJ and the persons that were harassed by
the hoodlums.
"The governor directed that security agencies
should investigate and take necessary action against the hoodlums.”
No comments:
Post a Comment