Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on Tuesday battered The Nation Newspaper’s Osun Correspondent Toba Adedeji and threatened to shoot at journalists during a protest at the Command office along Oke-Ayepe area in Osogbo.
Adedeji and some of his colleagues were covering a protest by students under the aegis of National Association of Osun State Students (NAOSS) and National Association of Nigeria Students/Joint Campus Committee, (Osun Axis) at the NSCDC office over the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola’s roadshow where gunshots were recorded, when the operatives descended on him.
He was taking some pictures and video recording of the protest from under a tree when an NSCDC approached him, accusing him of being a ‘police spy.’
” I told him that I am a journalist before I could explain further, a senior officer of Civil Defence ordered that I should be arrested.
“Two officers held my hands, I was struggling to pull up my identity card from my chest pocket when one of the officers gave me a headbutt with blood gushing out of my mouth.
“They were all shouting, “You are a Police spy we will deal with you”. Other officers numbering about three joined the others to beat me,” Adedeji narrated.
He added: “I struggled to call my colleagues at the scene but one officer exclaimed ‘I will shoot you if you move closer.’
“Eventually, an older officer at the scene talked to them and they freed me. I showed them my identity card but the officers who battered me, scorned it, saying, “Can you try this with operatives of DSS, even soldiers?
“The Command should’ve let us sign for guns and kill and arrest these protesters. In Ondo Command, they would have signed guns for us to deal with these miscreants who want to pull us into politics.’”
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Another officer, he said, screamed: ” You came here claiming you are a journalist. If you have been shot two times, you will go explain your profession to God.
“After the attack, I noticed that the smart wristwatch was missing and the buttons on my clothing were damaged.”
The NSCDC operatives also battered three police officers in mufti, who claimed to be intelligence officers after seizing their phones. (The Nation)
