Dare Fasube, a photojournalist with the Vanguard newspaper assigned to cover the national housing and population census exercise at the Ibadan North East Local Government Area in Oyo State in South west Nigeria, was attacked by Gbenga Adewusi, the Chairman of the Local Government.

Fasube was taking shots of the long queue of census enumerators who were fighting to collect their allowances at about 11am, when the enumeration exercise ought to have been in progress. On sighting him taking pictures, Adewusi rushed and pounced on the photojournalist, punching him several times. One of the policemen attached to the local government chairman joined his boss in battering the journalist.

They inflicted severe injuries on him and damaged his camera.Nigeria carried out a National Population and Housing Census between March 21 and 27, 2006.

Segun Owolabi, a senior news officer with Rhythm 93 FM radio inPort Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital in the Niger Delta region, was arrested by officers of the State Security Service (SSS),Nigeria’s intelligence service, and detained overnight before being released in the afternoon of March 15.Owolabi was detained at the SSS Headquarters in Port Harcourt.

He was arrested for airing a news item on the radio station about a planned peaceful protest against the Port Harcourt District of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the Federal Government-owned electricity generating and Distribution Company. A non-governmental organization called Directory of Nigeria, organized the protest to draw the attention of residents ofPort Harcourt to the worsening power situation in the state.

The news item, aired on March 13, reportedly led to some senior management staff of PHCN accusing the station of being used to cause a breach of the peace and to incite the public to vandalise its facilities. Following the complaint, some plain-clothed operatives of the SSS raided the station and arrested Owolabi.Owolabi said that during his detention, he was asked to make a statement on the broadcast and warned to refrain from doing anything that could jeopardise peace in the state. He said: “I was put inside a cell from 16 Hours on (March 14) till this afternoon (15 March) when I was released.” His release followed the intervention of the Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Magnus Abe, and the Chief Press Secretary to the Rivers State Governor, Emma Okah, who pleaded with the state Director of the SSS, Alhaji Kolawole Adesina, to release him.

Armed soldiers allegedly acting on the orders of an officer assaulted eight journalists in the premises of ArmyChildrenSchool, Port Harcourt, the capital city of RiversState in the Niger-Delta area of Nigeria.

The journalists had their video cameras and other working tools including personal effects either destroyed or confiscated by the soldiers. Journalists assaulted included those from MINAJ Radio and Television, Africa Independent Television (AIT), Channels Television, Rivers State Television (RSTV), Radio Rivers, and Newsday. The journalists were officially assigned to cover the demolition of illegal structure within primary schools in the state, including the Army Children School, ordered by the State Executive Council.

They were conveyed to the scene in a Government House press bus with registration number, RVGH 349. Reports have it that the soldiers including one Lance Corporal Ekpe, one Bola and their colleagues, some in uniform, others in mufti, descended on the journalists immediately they (soldiers) arrived the scene, injuring many of them, destroying and confiscating video cameras belonging to Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), AIT, RSTV, Channels TV, and MINAJ, their identity cards and their micro cassette recorders. The journalists were later rescued by the arrival of the state Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Tele Ikuru.The Rivers State Government condemned the assault.