Akwa Ibom Council Polls: Police Brutalise Journalists

Several journalists covering Saturday’s council polls in Eket Akwa Ibom were brutalised by the police in the course of carrying out their lawful duties.

At the Eket Office of Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC) scores of policemen descended on two reporters.  A similar incident occurred in the Ibesikpo Asutan area of the state.

The elections in the State were generally characterised by violence in Onna, Esit Eket, Eket , Ibesikpo Asutan and other local government areas.

Candidates from opposition parties complained of election materials being hijacked with the connivance of the Police.

At the Electoral Commissioner, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Eket, Mr. Idowu Owohunwa, gave the order for his men deal with the journalists.

The policemen swiftly complied and descended heavily on the reporters, a Senior Correspondent with the News Agency of Nigeria and the Editor of News Net, an Akwa Ibom based tabloid, leaving them with serious injuries.

The journalists were at the commission to ascertain the reasons for the delays in the arrival of election materials four hours behind schedule.

Following the incident, the Journalists also lost various valuables, including a digital camera.

The reporters were declined attention at the Divisional Police Headquarters when they approached the policemen on duty to make a formal report of the incident.

The Policemen said that they had instructions from the DPO not to receive such reports as he had taken steps to ensure that the matter is swept under the carpet.

A team of reporters led by the Akwa Ibom Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Mr Joe Effiong; and the Vice Chairman, Mrs. Florence Umoetuk, who were on election monitoring duties, also stormed the Eket Police station to see their brutalised colleagues.

Appeals by the NUJ officials to the police officers to incident the report in the official crime diary were rebuffed.

One of the policemen boasted that reporting the matter to the police hierarchy would not make any difference because the DPO is a former personal assistant to an Inspector General of Police at Force Headquarters.

The injured journalists are receiving treatments at a private clinic.