Multiple unfriendly slaps and kicks from alleged thugs loyal to the Kosofe Local Government chairman, Moyo Ogunlewe, were welcome gifts handed to a Lagos-based journalist, Habeeb Adejobi, who visited the council secretariat to report on the crisis that was trailing the appointment and planned inauguration of Secretary to the Local Government (SLG) and Supervisory councillors for the council.
As if those missiles were not enough, the thugs, who claimed to be allegedly acting on the directives of the council chairman, seized the journalist’s gadgets, asserting that his visit was not approved by Ogunlewe.
They added that Adejobi, a staff member of Murhi International Television (MITV), should have requested permission from the council boss before visiting the secretariat for a report on the executive inauguration.
The Guild learnt that Adejobi was assaulted on Wednesday at about 4 pm when sources informed him that the list of the SLG and Supervisory councillors had become a major reason for a face-off between the chairman and some leaders in the Lagos chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
As gathered, the crisis between the leaders, councillors and Ogunlewe, which Adejobi arrived at the council secretariat to report, allegedly started after the chairman altered the list for the SLG and other appointees to favour his loyalist, a move that the leaders kicked against, claiming that each bloc with the party in Kosofe had representatives on the list.
The leaders and the councillors alleged that the alteration by the council boss has given undue advantage to one bloc over the others.
Arriving at the council to report the scene that could trigger the disagreement, Adejobi, according to his colleagues at the scene, narrated that the journalist became a source of attack after the thugs saw him with his camera and other gadgets that often qualify him as a professional journalist and ease his reportage in the state.
They added that the thugs accosted him immediately, and after a few discussions, they allegedly attacked him and seized his gadgets for coming into the council to record activities inside the premises.
It was learnt that policemen deployed to forestall violence inside the Secretariat, took the journalist to Kosofe Police station for safety and to aid recovery of his gadget from the thugs loyal to Ogunlewe.
When our correspondent contacted Adejobi over the assault, he faulted the claim that he was in the council without notifying the chairman, saying I informed the chairman of my presence.
“It was funny because minutes after my arrival, a thug came to me and asked if I was a journalist, and I answered in the affirmative. But rather than leave after the verification, he demanded that I leave, a command I accepted on condition that I must see the council chairman, Ogunlewe, before taking my leave.
“Upon seeing the chairman, he asked that I surrender my gadget, which I did without hesitation. And what followed were slaps and kicks from people who were loyal to the council chairman”.
Efforts to get the Council chairman’s reaction to the assault inside the council proved abortive as calls and messages sent to his phone were not responded to.
A Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at the station, who identified himself as Kayode, disclosed that the case has been resolved and all parties have left the station.
