Outrage As Soldiers Assault TheCable Journalist In Lagos, Damage Phone

A journalist with TheCable, Olalekan Fakoyejo, has been assaulted by soldiers following a remark that they were causing traffic gridlock in the Ogba area of Lagos State.

Fakoyejo, who is the Assistant Business Editor with TheCable, said he had boarded a tricycle from Ikeja to Ogba on Saturday when he encountered the soldiers.

He noted that the soldiers were directing traffic when the tricycle conveying him manoeuvred around the Pleasant Event Centre, off Ajao Road, Ikeja.

According to him, another tricycle had attempted to manoeuvre through traffic but was pulled over by one of the soldiers, who directed the rider to get down from the tricycle as a form of punishment.

Fakoyejo narrated, “The soldier was trying to punish a tricycle driver in a different lane. He asked the driver to step out and climb on the roof of his tricycle.

“What he was doing was causing traffic, and I said this was causing traffic. I was in another tricycle in another lane, which was not far from where the other tricycle was.

“The soldier heard what I said and dragged me out of the tricycle. He started threatening me and ordered me to go meet his colleagues who were not close to the incident.

“I refused to go, telling him I did nothing wrong and that he doesn’t have the right to order me to go report myself to his colleagues.

“During this period, he kept pushing me backwards towards where he said his colleagues were. Then one of his colleagues came to speak to me.

“As I was explaining to the colleague who walked up to us, the soldier who was threatening me suddenly slapped me, and I turned my face towards him.”

Meanwhile, video evidence later published alongside a report by TheCable, which corroborated the journalist’s account, showed the soldier repeatedly shoving and hitting him.

One of the soldiers also attempted to hit him with a cudgel picked up from the ground in a video recorded by an eyewitness.

The report added that as the soldier pushed Fakoyejo, his phone hit the tarmac and the screen shattered.

It further noted that passers-by later urged the journalist to leave the scene to avoid further assault.

The report also stated that as Fakoyejo walked away, two soldiers accosted him and allegedly threatened to whip him while bystanders pleaded for calm.

Efforts to get a response from the Army spokesperson, Appolonia Anele, were unsuccessful, as she had yet to reply to messages sent to her line as of the time of filing this report.

The military has not issued a statement addressing the attack, which has become a recurring concern.

Instances of military personnel assaulting civilians, especially journalists, have become a recurring issue involving the Nigerian Army, sometimes resulting in injuries or deaths.

Recall that only recently, the Nigerian Army faced public backlash following the death of Abdulsamad Jamiu, a serving member of the National Youth Service Corps, in the Dei-Dei area of the Federal Capital Territory.

Journalists who visited the scene of the killing reported threats from the military.

The latest attack on the journalist, which damaged his phone, has been condemned by Nigerians and is trending online, with calls for the military to regard journalists’ work as complementary.