By Ola ‘Kiya, Reporting
ALTHOUGH later released after some sense prevailed, Delta correspondent of the Lagos-based Galaxy TV, Dele Fasan was on Friday morning arrested and handcuffed by some overzealous soldiers attached to the Nigerian Army 3 Battalion, in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.
Dele Fasan
His offence was having the audacity to do a video converge of a protest against the current hunger and hardship in Nigeria.
Fasan, who doubles as the South-South Bureau Chief of Galaxy Television, was reportedly manhandled while his camera man bolted away in the heat of the soldiers’ misfeasance.
This is just as operatives of the Delta State Police Command, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police, DC Operations, Aina Adesola, also reportedly arrested some protesters including two yet-to-be-identified women.
Reports say the police have threatened to charge the women and other arrested protesters with terrorism like Boko Haram suspects.
The soldiers, led by the Commanding Officer, Major AE Ohegbe, allegedly brutalized and hit the journalist with the butt of their guns at the DSC Roundabout in Effurun where the protesters had gathered before they were dispersed.
It was gathered that Mr. Fasan was arrested and manhandled in the presence of the police led by a DCP Adesola.
He was, however, released and the handcuff removed from his fists after the intervention of DCP Adesola and colleagues of the Galaxy reporter from the Independent Television & Radio, Mr. Gbenga Ahmed and Mr. Matthew Omonigho of Daily Post.
Also at the scene, the soldiers were said to have whisked away a human rights activist, Comrade Israel Joe, to the barracks for purportedly being the brain behind the botched protest in spite of several pleas.
Apparently, the planned was successfully foiled at Effurun because human rights activists had elected to be divided among themselves.
Joe, in a voice note, obtained by Stonix News, has alleged that the security operatives were cooking up terrorism charges against him, too, for rallying protesters against hardship in the country.
He, however, announced Friday evening that he had been left off the hook of the soldiers.
Speaking to his colleagues after his release, Galaxy Television’s Fasan said he was trying to get some video clips of the protest scene when the overzealous soldiers swooped on him despite having identified himself as a journalist.
Mr. Fasan, however, commended the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, DCP Aina Adesola, who promptly intervened in the matter and ensured he was left off the hook.
“The military were not civil at all during the protest. But the Police led by DCP Aina Adesola, the Navy, the DSS and NSCDC operatives were civil as they all intervened and I was released,” he narrated.
He, however, added that the army CO, Major Ahegbe later apologized to him for their misdemeanor.
Meanwhile, the National Secretary of Human Rights Protection Congress, Comrade Kelvin Ejumudo, said the Civil Society Organisations (CSO) came out to ensure that the protest did not hold following the security threat across the nation.
“We don’t want any protest at all because when it happens, people will lose their properties. People will lose their monies,” he noted.
He accused Joe of backing the protest for selfish reasons, rather than looking at the larger picture of the aftermath of such protest, saying he had a beef with the Joe.
He said,”I will not condone any idea of protest in this state because at the moment, Nigeria is volatile.”
He urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all the thirty 36 state governors with the local government chairmen to, as a matter of urgency, tackle the hunger in the land.
“Nigerians don’t want food. We want employment, we want our refineries to be functional, we want to produce what we can sell.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of Citizens Rights Enhancement Initiative, Comrade Edewor Egedegbe, has commended the security operatives over the manner they managed the situation.
While acknowledging that there’s hunger in the land, Egedegbe, a cleric, said,”you cannot cure hunger by further inflicting harm on innocent citizens.
“What the Police, the military have done to ensure that there’s no breakdown of law and order is very much in order.
“For some of us, we have said the time is not ripe for any protest that can snowball not a major crisis.
“There’s a crisis of hunger already and the government are slowing their best. Although, we believe that their best is not good enough.
“We are asking them to do more because there’s truly hunger in the land,” he noted.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, DCP Adesola, in a chat, said he was drafted to the scene by the Commissioner of Police, CP Olufemi Abaniwonda, to maintain order and peace in the state.
DCP Adesola said the citizens were going about their normal businesses without any hindrance, adding: “There’s no problem. Residents should come out en mass and to their different places of work. Nobody will molest them.
“The civil societies have rallied around the police and the Army. We are on ground and there’s no problem.”
However, in spite of the meeting of no protest by stakeholders on Thursday night, pockets of protest against hunger in the land still held at Jakpa junction and other parts of the of Effurun.
As of the time of filing the report, armed-to-the-teeth soldiers and policemen were still seen occupying strategic positions at DSC Roundabout, Effurun Roundabout and other parts of Uvwie and Warri to avert any breakdown of law and order.
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