Bauchi Governor’s security threatens to deal with journalists

A Security operative attached to Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, simply identified as Abdulrahman, on Thursday threatened to deal with journalists while performing their duty.

The journalists, who were members of the Correspondents’ Chapel, were at the Palace of the Emir of Katagum when the Governor visited the local government after a violent protest where hoodlums razed the Council Secretariat in Azare.

The incident occurred inside the Palace Hall when the journalists were trying to find where to record the Governor’s speech before an operative of DSS simply identified as Abdul ordered them to vacate the hall.

While explaining to the officer that they were just trying to do their jobs, the aggressive DSS officer forcefully pushed one of the journalists who in turn fell on others at the scene.

The journalists, however, cautioned the officer not to treat journalists in such a disdainful manner but should respect the profession the same way his profession is being respected by journalists.

In order not to escalate the issue, the journalists left the spot and got another spot to get the speeches of both the governor, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Auwal Mohammed as well as the Emir of Katagum, Alh. Umar Faruk II.

It was at this point that the officer walked up to them and said “this is just the beginning, you shall see.

“You challenged me? You will see. This thing that you have done, this is the beginning,” he fumed.

One of the journalists then replied that this sounds like a threat and the officer maintained his utterances that he would deal with the journalists.

“He once molested me at a function, he is quite aggressive,” a government House press crew journalist who pleaded anonymity, said.

Similarly, some of the personnel had on Thursday last week brutalized a person living with disability identified as Hamza Waziri who is now being hospitalized at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital.

Waziri was participating in the #EndBadGovernance protest in front of the government house. He was seen in a trending video clip where four police officers attached to the Government House entrance were assaulting him.

Also, Aisha Dogara, a resident of Bauchi who participated in the protest was assaulted with her clothes torn and bruises were seen all over her body.

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