On September 19, 2020, two journalists, Samson Adenekan and Nathaniel Offel, who covered the Edo State governorship election at Ward 10 (Uzairue North East), Polling Unit 1 of Etsako West local government, were attacked and brutalized by political thugs in the presence of policemen who did nothing to rescue or protect them.
Samson Adenekan of Premium Times was slapped, manhandled and then briefly detained by the thugs for taking pictures and videos. He was forced to delete them.
Samson disclosed that he was capturing incident of voter inducement at the centre when he and another reporter were accosted by the thugs.
Narrating his experience, Samson said “They surrounded me and asked I should give them my phone. One big black guy landed two heavy slaps on my cheeks and up till now, I cannot feel my cheeks. They seized my phone insisting that I must delete the pictures,” adding “They said I would not leave the place alive if I did not delete the shots.” He was allowed to leave after deleting the pictures.
The second journalist, Nathaniel Offel, covering the election for GeeTV, suffered a harsher ordeal as he initially refused to delete the pictures in his phone when he was ordered to delete them. Samson reported that Nathaniel “… was beaten mercilessly. One of the thugs hit him with a big chair on the back twice. His phone was smashed; his clothes torn and he sustained a lot of injuries from the attack.”
