Immigration officers assault journalist in Edo

Some officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) have assaulted a journalist with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Joy Odigie, in Benin, Edo State.

Odigie visited the Edo Command of the service to interview its Public Relations Officer, Ake Kenneth, on the reported burgling of the command’s offices.

A source had told the NAN that the offices attacked last weekend included the Border Unit, Technical Section and the National Identification Number (NIN), carting away some items including money kept in a safe.

The source said one of the perpetrators was apprehended by some officers on duty on Monday.

But when Odigie visited the command, the officers, who were at the reception, queried her mission at the command.

Explaining what happened, she said: “I had passed through the security men in front of the office, when I heard some officers saying excuse me, excuse me.

“I was already on the staircase, but when I realised that I was the person being called, I came down from the staircase.

“I told them that I was a journalist and wanted to see the PRO. And one of them answered that he knew I was a journalist and started shouting that he wanted to search me, that I could be carrying a bomb.

“I told him that since he knew that I was a journalist, he should allow me to go see the PRO rather than embarrass me.

“He said that I should meet an officer to educate me. When it was becoming more embarrassing, I told him I wasn’t going to meet the officer.

“By this time, more officers came to the scene and a female officer said “oga is calling you and I asked for the name of the oga.

“Surprisingly, the lady replied ‘you are disrespecting my oga, you this stupid albino’, a derogatory and discriminatory word for a person with albinism,” Odigie narrated.

When the journalist told the officer she was stupid for that word, other officers reportedly descended on her and confiscated her belongings.

“One of the officers with a gun dragged me by the arm and pulled me outside the office. The umbrella I was holding fell from my hand and was collected by an officer.

“I left the office and put a call across to the PRO of the service, who then came to my rescue, asking that my umbrella be given back to me,” said Odigie, who was visibly troubled.

When contacted, the PRO of the command apologised, saying he had extended the same to the journalist.