Dayo Aiyetan, Founding Executive Director, International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Abuja, has narrated how political thugs physically assaulted him while covering the presidential and national assembly elections.

In a series of tweets, Aiyetan said the incident happened on Saturday morning at Agwan Fulani Town Hall polling unit in Gwagwalada, Abuja.

“I was attacked this morning in Gwagwalada while covering the election. There was disturbance and a guy was trying to upturn the canopy on top of INEC officials. I was recording the scene when a guy told me to stop recording. I did,” Aiyetan wrote.

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“In seconds, I was surrounded by hordes of people. Miscreant, thugs etc. I was beaten, my clothes turn and my phone, car key, purse and a pouch containing my debit cards, Nigeria and US driver’s licences and other items. They took everything on me. But I fought to keep my camera.

“A guy brought out a knife and tried to stab me. I kicked him with my steel toed skechers and fortunately, apart from a few scratches, I escaped unhurt. There was a policewoman at the PU and I was just praying that she wouldn’t try to intervene because they would have beaten her too.”

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Aiyetan said Hamza Sadiq, the DPO at Gwagwalada Police Station, assisted him in recovering his phone and car key.

“But my voter’s card, driver’s licences, debit cards etc and purse are still missing,” he further stated.

“It is obvious that the Nigerian police do not have the men to cover the elections. They will tey their best but they don’t have the manpower, no matter what the police chiefs say.”