Gunmen Attack Journalist’s Home

Nasarawa State Correspondent of Daily Trust Newspaper, Mr Hir Joseph narrowly escaped when a gang of unidentified persons who broke into his apartment in the early hours of yesterday.

Speaking to P.M.NEWS on telephone after the incident, Joseph said he was attacked by a gang of four gunmen who scaled the fence of his house, beside Government House along Shendam Road, at about 4:15am.

“I give God the glory that I escaped the attack. They scaled the fence, first attacking our security man who was sleeping outside, stabbing him on his right palm while he struggled to free himself from their grip.

“His scream woke me up from sleep. I looked out through the window to find out that gunmen were within. At that time, they put the security man faced-down, while two headed straight towards my apartment. But one of them disappeared from my sight, while one went straight to my sitting room window, and struggled to gain entry.

“Sensing that they must have come specifically for me, I prayed and walked fast to the backdoor from where I made it to the fence and scaled to the outside. I ran fast into the bush and hid there till daybreak. I returned to find all my neighbours gathered with other neighbours from the adjoining houses, discussing the incident.

“Two of them told me the gunmen pointed flashlight into their houses, and discussed among themselves that the occupants were not around.

“The other one was attacked, when he came out with a flashlight, trying to find out what happened to the security man. He said the gun man that came up to him, walked him back into his house where he dispossessed him of cash, his laptop and three GSM phones. The gunman led him into his bathroom and locked him there.

“They were able to break into my house. They took a mini laptop from there. That is all I can say for now,” Joseph.

In a swift reaction to the incident, the state Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), has forwarded a petition to the state Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Obiako, seeking a prompt investigation into the incident as members insisted that it may not be far from a targeted attack to muscle the media at this time of transition in the nation’s democracy.

The correspondent chapel also recalled a similar incident of veiled threats on members including the life of the People’s Daily correspondent, Ali Abare who lodged a formal complaint to the chapel, saying a close aide of Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma called him in the night to express misgiving about media reports on the administration of his boss.
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