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Journalist Brutalized by
Policemen While on Assignment
Mr. David Amusa, the correspondent of an independent daily ‘National
Mirror’ newspaper in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in the Niger-delta area
was on March 31, 2008 severely beaten by a detachment of about 20
policemen while on assignment to cover the announcement of local council
election conducted on Saturday, March 29, 2008.
Amusa was among several other journalists invited by the Rivers State
Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to its secretariat to cover the
announcement of the result of the local council elections
In response to the RSIEC invitation, Mr. Amusan went to its secretariat
located at Abba Road but he was accosted at the gate to the RSIEC
secretariat by a policeman who tried to prevent him from entering the
premises. He had presented his identity card to an official of RSIEC who
cleared him to enter the premises but the policeman insisted that he
should not go in. While trying to explain to the policemen why he should
be allowed in, other policemen who were initially watching from a
distance came and pounced on him beating him all over his body with
their batons and the butts of the guns
Mr.
Lawson Heyford, the chairman of the Correspondent Chapel of the Nigeria
Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Rivers State and other journalists had to
rush to the scene to rescue Amusa who had begun bleeding profusely and
gasping for breath.
Amusan
was taken to an undisclosed hospital in Port Harcourt where he was
admitted for treatment.
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