Pandemonium broke out at the National Assembly complex on Wednesday after some overzealous security agents allegedly barred journalists from accessing the legislative building.
Consequently, scores of accredited journalists were left stranded, trying to understand what was happening.
The Sergeant-at-Arms personnel and Police officers on duty retorted that they were acting on “orders from above” to prevent those without official permanent identity cards from entering the White House section of the Parliament.
Despite pleas from journalists, who explained that the National Assembly’s Information Department was yet to issue them with permanent identity cards, the security agents stood their ground.
Further efforts to negotiate entry for those with temporary identity papers and clearance met a brickwall.
The situation escalated, forcing security personnel to resort to verbal abuse before physically attacking some journalists.
In the process, a photojournalist with TheSun newspaper, Mudashiru Atanda, sustained some injuries while The Nation newspaper’s Nicolas Kalu and Gloria Essien of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), who attempted to intervene, were shrugged aside during the ensuing melee.
In the heat of the tension, one of the security operatives seized the smartphone of Tolu Akinyemi, an accredited journalist with SuperScreen Television, threatening to ensure she never saw it again.
When contacted, the Office of the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA) denied issuing any such directive to bar journalists from the National Assembly complex under whatever guise.
