By Nahum Sule (Taraba State Correspondent, in Jalingo)
Thugs allegedly loyal to the majority leader of the Taraba State House of Assembly and member representing Donga State Constituency, Douglas Yahaya Ndatse, on Monday, assaulted some journalists at the Taraba State Government House.
The journalists were at the Government House to cover the visit of one of the Presidential aspirant on the platform of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi.
Security personnel attached to the government house had shut the gate to prevent the crowd from gaining access into the government House. When the Majority Leader arrived at the gate, the crowd attempted to take advantage of his coming to gain access, leading to commotion at the gate.
In the ensuing drama, the journalists; Sani Sulieman of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and Justin Tyopuusu of PUNCH Newspaper, in an attempt to take pictures of the happening, were descended on by the thugs who accompanied the lawmaker.
The thugs armed with knives, sticks and cutlasses, forcefully confiscated their phones and ordered them to delete all the pictures they had taken. i The majority leader watched the assault on the journalists without stopping his thugs, saying as he walked away that, "the journalists are not supposed to record the scene."
Chairman of the Correspondents' Chapel, Mr. Gabriel Yough, who arrived the scene shortly after the incident, condemned the assault on the journalists, saying that the matter will not be swept under the carpet. NNL
