On Thursday, security operatives assigned to Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed threatened journalists while they were carrying out their duties.
Daily Post reports that members of the Bauchi Correspondents’ Chapel were at the Palace of the Emir of Katagum during the governor’s visit to the local government, following a violent protest in which the Council Secretariat in Azare was set ablaze by hoodlums.
Some of the members of the chapel were threatened as they were attempting to record the governor’s speech. One of the operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, identified only as Abdul, ordered the journalists to vacate the hall.
However, as the journalists searched for an alternative spot to continue their work, Abdul approached them again, issuing a threat: “This is just the beginning,” he warned.
The governor, who was seated alongside other dignitaries, including the Emir of Katagum, observed the exchange.
“You challenged me? You will see. This thing that you have done, this is the beginning,” Abdul continued, leaving witnesses in the palace stunned.
When one of the journalists remarked that his words sounded like a threat, Abdul reiterated his intention to “deal with” the journalists.
“He once molested me at a function. He is quite aggressive,” said a journalist attached to the Government House Press Crew, who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity.
Daily Post reports that security personnel attached to the Government House had, last week, brutalised a person living with disability, identified as Hamza Waziri, who is now hospitalized at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital in Bauchi.
Waziri was participating in the #EndBadGovernance protest in front of the Government House when he was assaulted by four police officers. The incident was captured in a trending video clip.
Similarly, Aisha Dogara, a Bauchi resident who equally participated in the same protest, was assaulted and had her clothes torn, with visible bruises all over her body.
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