On June 20, 2026, persons suspected to be hoodlums attacked Mr. Yinusa Ishola, the Ekiti State Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), and Mr. Razak Ibrahim of The Nation newspaper, while the journalists were covering the Ekiti State governorship election at Polling Unit 10, Ward B, in Iyin-Ekiti, Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area of the State.
Reports have it that operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stormed the town to monitor alleged vote-buying activities in the unit. This angered the suspected hoodlums, who accused the EFCC operatives of attempting to harass voters, and in the process of ordering the EFCC operatives out of the area, attacked the two journalists who were in the area to monitor the voting process. This resulted in an altercation between the hoodlums and EFCC operatives.
The Nation reporter began to record the scenario between the operatives and the hoodlums with his mobile device, but was accosted by one of the hoodlums who saw him recording the scene. When the hoodlums identified both Ishola and Ibrahim as journalists, they descended on them.
The journalists managed to escape by jumping into a bus that conveyed them to the community and, in the process, sustained minor injuries. Ishola lost his office identity card during the attack.
