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Some security agents, on Wednesday, barred journalists from accessing the National Assembly.
Consequently, some accredited journalists were left stranded.
When asked, the Sergeant-at-Arms and police officers on duty claimed they were acting on “orders from above” to prevent those without official permanent identity cards from entering the White House complex.
Despite pleas from journalists, who explained that the National Assembly’s Information Department had yet to issue them, the security agents stood their ground.
Further efforts to negotiate entry for those with temporary identity papers and clearance met a brick wall.
The situation escalated, forcing security personnel to resort to verbal abuse before physically attacking some journalists.
In the process, a journalist with The Sun, Mudashiru Atanda, sustained some injuries, while The Nation newspaper’s Nicolas Kalu and Gloria Essien of the Voice of Nigeria, who attempted to intervene, were shrugged aside during the altercation.
In the heat of the tension, one of the operatives seized the smartphone of Tolu Akinyemi, an accredited journalist with SuperScreen Television, threatening to ensure she never saw it again.
When contacted, the Office of the Clerk to the National Assembly denied issuing any such directive.
More details later…
