By USMAN ALIYU

Some officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) on Wednesday assaulted Joy Odigie, a journalist with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin.

NAN reports that Odigie is currently receiving treatment in a hospital for injuries sustained during the attack.

Odigie visited the command to interview its Public Relations Officer, Ake Kenneth on the reported burglary in three units of the command.

A source told NAN that the offices burgled on Monday included border, technical and the National Identification Number (NIN) units.

Some hoodlums, it was learnt, vandalised some electrical cables and equipment in the offices over the weekend and carted away some items, including money kept in a safe.

The source said one of the perpetrators was apprehended by some officers on duty on Monday.

But when NAN journalist visited the command, the officers, who were at the reception, queried her mission at the command.

“I have passed through the security men in the front office, when some officers called me back.

“I told them that I was a journalist and wanted to see the PRO and one of them answered that he knew I was a journalist and would want to search me because I could be carrying a bomb.

“I told him that since he knew that I was a journalist, he should allow me go and see the PRO rather than embarrass me.

“He said that I should meet an officer to educate me. When it was becoming more embarrassing, I told him I wasn’t going to meet the officer.

“More officers came to the scene and started shoving me about me. A female officer called me a ‘stupid albino’, a derogatory and discriminatory words for person with albinism.

When the journalist reprimanded the officer, other officers reportedly descended on her and confiscated her belongings.

“One of the officers with a gun dragged me by the arm and pulled me outside the office. The umbrella I was holding fell from my hand and it was collected by an officer.

“I left the office and put a call across to the PRO of the service, who then came to my rescue and he asked that my umbrella would be given back to me,” Odigie, who was visibly troubled, said.

When contacted, the public relations officer, said he had apologized to the journalist. (NAN)

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