Again on Monday evening, operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) went gaga in Osun State, attacking journalists and destroying their working gadgets.
Observers describe the action of the DSS as unprovoked attack, prompting outage in Osun State.
The operatives are attached to the Osun State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori.
The journalists, who were part of Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s press crew, were said to be returning from the commissioning ceremony of a project at Oke-Ila, Ifedayo Local Government Area of the state when the incident happened.
It was gathered that trouble started when an operational vehicle carrying the operatives missed the entourage and it tried to maneuver its way. It made attempts to overtake the vehicle carrying newsmen at a dangerous bend of the road, which the driver resisted.
The operatives later waylaid the press team with their operational vehicle marked AR 482 KUJ, during which an operative, identified as Williams, reportedly pointed his gun at journalists and threatened to open fire at them.
In the ensuing melee, a senior reporter in the office of the Governor, Mr. Adekunle Alabi, alongside the Channels Television cameraman, identified as Adewale were beaten to a pulp, while the latter’s camera worth N2.5million was damaged beyond repair.
A journalist with Osun Defender, who was part of the team was quoted to have said that the operatives deliberately barricaded the road against the press crew, which eventually resulted to altercation.
He added that an operative, earlier identified as Williams, with other two security personnel, eventually descended on some journalists and damaged their equipment in the process.
Operatives of the DSS had on September 11, last year, brutalised two journalists, Timothy Agbor of The Point Newspaper, and Toba Adedeji of Osun Defender at the premises of the Osun State House of Assembly in Osogbo.
The action, which elicited huge condemnation all over the country, was later settled as the DSS authorities apologised to the leadership of the NUJ and also paid for the damaged gadgets.