Some overzealous union leaders on Tuesday assaulted some journalists covering the ongoing strike declared by the organised labour in Ogun State.
The union had on Monday declared an indefinite strike to press home their demands from the state government.
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The strike which took effect on Tuesday morning paralysed, hospitals, schools and government activities.
Some journalists monitoring the compliance level of workers were, however, attacked by some overzealous labour leaders.
The labour leaders wielding canes and sticks attacked the journalists at the state General Hospital, Ijaye in Abeokuta.
The Union members were seen wearing shirts and caps with the “NULGE” inscription. Some of them were also identified as members of the Ogun State Chapter of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria.
The journalists became the victims of the union leaders who ignored their identity cards and descended heavily on them.
The union members also attacked and physically assaulted female journalists who were part of the team that visited the hospital.
Those attacked included: Daud Olatunji, The Punch Newspaper; Joke Adeleye, PM News; Michael Olaoluwa and Tutu Sobowale, PlatformTimes online newspaper; Busola, Rock City FM.
They also harassed hospital workers who were on emergency duty.
The Punch correspondent while sharing his ordeal in the hands of the overzealous workers said, “I was beaten blue and black.”
Olatunji said he was taken aback by such act “because despite showing them our identity cards, they still went ahead to descend on us, heavily.
“They said we don’t have the right to cover them. They said we ought to have taken permission from them,” he added.
Daily Trust reports that the development has generated outrage among journalists who insisted that the hoodlums must be brought to book.
Meanwhile, the NLC chairman, Emmanuel Bankole has led other labour leaders to the secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Iwe Irohin, in Abeokuta, apparently to douse the tension.
He said those who carried out the attacks were not members of the union.
