Guber poll: NSCDC beat, injures journalists on election duty in Nasawara

Edwin Philip, the News Editor of Breeze FM, a privately owned radio station in Nasawara State has been injured by the personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps while covering the governorship and State House of Assembly election in the state.

Philip, was said to been attacked at the polling unit 061 in Ciroma ward in Lafia Local government on the directive of a politician from the locality.

The News Editor was beaten with a batton and had his head smashed by the operatives, and was rushed to one of the health facilities.

Narrating the situation, Philip said, he was monitoring election, and on reaching Polling Unit – 061 opposite the Lafia new market, he noticed that, the ad-hoc officers are asking voters to come by 2pm to vote, after been accredited.

“I then asked the presiding officer, why is it like that? Why are you asking people to go and return back 2pm?

“He (PO) said, that is how he was trained. I then asked, were you trained differently from others? He kept insisting that people should go and come back by 2.

“The ad-hoc officers along side the police had forms with them that was not issued to the people to cast their vote. There are disabled and aged people, who needed to cast their vote too.

“While I was talking to him to give the disabled and the aged attention to exercise there franchise, he was challenging me to prove which section in the electoral act that say so.

“Suddenly, I saw one Ibrahim Abdullahi Adon-gari Lafia came in with some boys and started beating people at the polling unit.

“Knowing what the man can do, I left the place to meet an incoming security vans belonging to the NSCDC, to introduce myself and to explain to them what was going on.

“Only for the Ibrahim Adon-gari to instruct the NSCDC personnel to beat me up,” he said.

The NSCDC public relation officer, Jerry Victor, who confirmed the development said, the matter is under control.

According to Victor, the state Commander of the Corps has directed full investigation into the matter to know the initial problem.

He assured that the personnel and all those involved would be sanctioned accordingly if found wanting of the incident.