A soldier attacked Olalekan Fakoyejo, the assistant business editor with TheCable, following a comment regarding a traffic bottleneck in the Ikeja area of Lagos state.
The confrontation took place on Saturday, May 2, while Fakoyejo was traveling to Ogba from Ikeja in a tricycle, commonly called a “Keke Napep.”
The trouble began near the Pleasant Event Centre, where soldiers were controlling traffic.
After a soldier ordered another rider to board his vehicle as a penalty, the resulting gridlock trapped the tricycle carrying the journalist.
Expressing his frustration, Fakoyejo remarked to fellow passengers that the soldier had caused the standstill.
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A soldier nearby overheard the comment and ordered everyone out of the vehicle.
The soldier then pulled Fakoyejo away, questioning his “effrontery” to speak that way.
Despite the journalist explaining that he had done nothing wrong, the official became furious and ordered him to report to other soldiers nearby.
As Fakoyejo attempted to explain the situation to an approaching officer, the soldier who started the confrontation slapped the editor.
Footage captured by a witness showed the operative repeatedly pushing the journalist and trying to strike him with a “cudgel picked from the floor.”
During the scuffle, Fakoyejo’s phone fell, leaving the screen “shattering to bits.”
Although onlookers eventually convinced the editor to leave to avoid being “beaten to a pulp or slain,” two other soldiers briefly intercepted him and threatened to “whip him into line” before the crowd managed to calm the situation.
See video below:
