Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola
Some
hoodlums on Thursday invaded a newsstand in Osogbo, the Osun State
capital, and beat up readers found there for criticising Governor Rauf
Aregbesola over his inability to pay workers in the state.
Our correspondent gathered that the
readers were at a newsstand opposite the old Governor’s Office and were
discussing the issue when the hoodlums stormed the place and attacked
them.
The owner of the stand, who identified
himself as Sherif, told our correspondent on the telephone that the
hoodlums came in a large number.
He added that they descended on everybody, destroyed his stand and tore newspapers found there into shreds.
He said, “A spy sent by the hoodlums came here and said he wanted to buy a newspaper.
“We asked him which of the newspapers,
but he said anyone. Suddenly, some thugs invaded this place. Some
readers and I saw them on time and fled.
“But they manhandled others, who could
not escape. The thugs beat them up mercilessly. They tore all my
newspapers and destroyed the stand.”
One of the victims of the victims,
Olufemi Fadeyi, said the hoodlums came while the readers were engrossed
in the argument for and against the governor over the nonpayment of
workers’ salaries.
He stated that majority Of the readers
were criticising the governor for not paying workers’ salaries and one
of them stepped aside and made a telephone call.
Fadeyi said some minutes after, the hoodlums stormed the newsstand and started raining blows and flogging those found there.
He said, “The hoodlums were armed.
“They rounded us up, but some escaped. They beat those caught and destroyed the stand.”
The Chairman of Newspapers Distributor
Association in the state Alhaji Muhammed Olaiya, condemned the attack
while calling on security operatives to fish out those behind it.
The attack also attracted the wrath of the Osun State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.
The Secretary of NUJ in Osun State, Mr.
Bamigbola Gbolahunte, said, “Any attempt to take the nation back to
the dark military days shall be resisted by all lovers of democracy,
including the NUJ.”
The Civil Societies Coalition for Emancipation of Osun State also condemned the attack.
The group’s Chairman, Adeniyi Sulaiman,
said those behind the attack were afraid of the people because they had
something to hide.
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