National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has begun an inquest into last Thursday’s assault on a LEADERSHIP photojournalist, Benedict Uwalaka by mortuary attendants at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
Uwalaka was attacked and seriously wounded by mortuary attendants while covering the release of corpses of victims of the ill-fated Dana Air crash to their relatives.
The decision to investigate the incident was revealed yesterday when the executive secretary of the commission, Prof Ben Angwe, represented by the deputy director and technical assistant to the executive secretary of the commission, Mr. Lambert Oparah, paid a solidarity visit to the management of LEADERSHIP in Abuja.
In the statement signed by Angwe and delivered by Opara, the NHRC boss said, “The attention of the National Human Rights Commission has been drawn to the report of brutalisation of Mr. Benedict Uwalaka, a photojournalist with your newspaper, allegedly by mortuary attendants at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
“According to information at our disposal, Uwalaka was assaulted while performing his official duty covering the release of corpses of victims of the ill-fated Dana crash. The assailants, we gathered, inflicted sever bodily injuries on the said Mr. Uwalaka.
“We wish to place it on record that the commission shares in the pains your staff is going through and wishes to solidarise with you by this letter.
“Accordingly, the NHRC has instituted an investigation into this ugly incident and will brief you on our findings as well as measures to be taken in line with the mandate of the commission.”
On why the NHRC’s solidarity visit was important, Oparah said the commission would examine all the sides to the matter. He also said that the NHRC would today dispatch a team to Lagos University Teaching Hospital. He said: “All the necessary people involved will be contacted. As soon as it is completed we will make available all the information.”
A managing editor of LEADERSHIP, Mr. Iyobosa Uwugiaren, and the editor LEADERSHIP, Mr. Suleiman Uba Gaya, while receiving the representative of the NHRC, extolled the commission’s objectivity on human rights abuses in the last few years as well as its rapid response to the abuse of the photojournalist.
Uwugiaren said: “We are not surprised about your visit to our corporate headquarters. Your commission has proved in the last two years that it is committed to fighting human rights violations in our country.
“We want your commission to take the matter very seriously. No matter the perceived offence of our reporter, the attack is uncalled for. The intention of the evil men was to kill him.”
While hailing the commission for being the first organisation to pay a solidarity visit over the incident, Uwugiaren, assured the commission of LEADERSHIP’s support and partnership in ensuring that the rights of Nigerians are protected.
LEADERSHIP writes Fashola
Meanwhhile, LEADERSHIP Group has written a letter to Lagos State governor Babatunde Fashola, asking him to ensure that all those who took part in the brutalisation of its photojournalist, Uwalaka, are identified and prosecuted accordingly.
In the letter dated August 10 and addressed to the governor, the group managing director of the Group, Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene, noted that the newspaper appreciated the swift response of Fashola to the incident and his public apology, saying that his promise to investigate the matter and to bring the culprits to justice was worthy of note.
The letter reads in part: “If the morgue minders of LASUTH have acquired a morbid mannerism or craving for corpses that does not spare even visitors, we wonder what is left of the management’s commitment to the Hippocratic Oath. And what do we make of the aloofness of the Area F police station which is just a shout away from the scene of the crime?
“We request, therefore, that, pursuant to your promise, you use your good offices to seek justice for Mr Uwalaka. All those who took part in the bestial assault and battery should be identified and charged to court immediately.
“This act of callousness is an affront on your administration’s efforts to instil a culture of law and order in public conduct in Lagos State.”
Police orders LASUTH management to produce culprits
Meanwhile, the Lagos State police command has directed the management of LASUTH to produce the culprits that brutalised Uwalaka and bring them to its command today.
Our correspondent gathered that the police had asked the management of TOS Funerals to produce the two culprits unfailingly today as their identities were still shrouded in secrecy.
But LEADERSHIP has uncovered the identities of two men that brutalised Uwalaka, seizing his camera and phones, as Debayo Ogunsola and Idowu who are workers of the company.
According to police sources, attempts were made since Saturday to arrest the men who assaulted the photojournalist but the police have not been able to arrest the culprits as there are indications that the authorities may be shielding the two offenders.
Speaking on the matter, the Lagos State public relations officer, Ngozi Braide, told one of our correspondents that the command had not been able to arrest the culprits owing to the inability of the victim to identify the suspects properly, but the police in Ikeja have asked the management to produce the suspect today.
She said, “Your man (Benedict) only reported at the station on that day and did not write a statement and, therefore, we were not able to arrest them but he has since done that on Saturday.
But he said he only knew the clothes they wore, a black shirt and another wearing a white shirt. Be that as it may, we have ordered the management to bring the offenders to the station on Monday.”
Culled:247nigerianewsupdate
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