Wilson Adekumola
A journalist, Ashiru Umar, of Premier Radio, has been attacked by some suspected political thugs while covering Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections in Gwale Local Government Area of Kano.
While shedding light on the incident, Umar disclosed that he was stormed and overwhelmed by the thugs in Galadanci Ward in Gidan Galadima polling unit after he had an interview with a relative of a victim beaten by the armed thugs in the area.
Premium Times said the thugs had accused him of spying for their political opponents from the area and taking a video of them.
It was gathered that the Galadanci area is a stronghold of state’s chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Abbas, and the governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Abba Kabir.
“It happened after we interviewed a relative of a person who was attacked in the area by the thugs.
“I went farther into the scene to confirm the name of the attacked victim. While filing my report, I heard someone saying that ‘he was taking video of us’ which alerted other gang members.
“They checked my phone but they could not find any of the videos, but they started beating me. I ran for safety, they chased me and caught me after I fell down. They continued beating me, but I was lucky to escape to a neighboring house where I was kept safe.
“Someone later brought my damaged phone to the house, and later on, we managed to leave the area.
“Unfortunately, all this happened while the security agents were watching,”Mr Umar lamented.
It was said that the police spokesperson in Kano, Abdullahi Kiyawa, did not respond to phone calls for his comment on the incident.
