Nurse assaults, strips female journalist naked in public

By SAM ANOKAM
Another case of assault of a female journalist, has recently occurred in Enugu when a woman named Mrs.Clara Eleje who claimed to be the Sole proprietress of Holy Family maternity at Ugwuodowu , Trans- Ekulu assaulted one Miss Amaka Owoh, a reporter with the Nigerian Television Authority Enugu Network Centre while she was on official duty at the Nnamdi Azikiwe National stadium.
According to eyewitnesses at the scene, the woman dragged the reporter and stripped her half naked exposing her bra in public, it took the intervention of onlookers to rescue the battered reporter. The unfortunate victim said she just finished an interview at an official assignment when Mrs. Elendu pounced on her and dragged her cloth accusing her of collecting the sum of N150,000 and not air a report on baby factory which the woman was alleged to be involved in. She further said she only interviewed the woman and did not discuss any monetary issue with her. She insisted that she is innocent of the accusation and did not collect a dime from Mrs. Elendu. She however said the attempt by the woman is a physical assault on her aimed at destroying her image and that of the National Television she works for. She pleaded that her life has been threatened and her safety is not guaranteed. The case has been reported to the Ogui police station of the state command.
When contacted, Mrs. Eleje has this to say about the issue. “She collected N150,000 with her colleague. I have a case with civil defence involving my clinic. After the interview, she collected the money. She told me she will not air it only for her to air it two days after. She said if she airs it, people will run away from my clinic. Even if she will air it, she is supposed to call me or call my sister who works with ESBN. My anger with her is that she said she would not air it but later did otherwise.”
But she said you publicly assaulted her when she told you she didn’t discuss any monetary reward or collected anything from you?
“If I see somebody going on the street, I will just go and attack that person, am I mad? She is like a daughter to me. Once she comes and apologise, I will forget about the whole thing.”
However, Owoh has insisted that journalists from other media houses were there when she was assaulted and that she did not in any way collect any form of gratification from Mrs. Eleje. She added that one Blessing Nwangwu Akuabata who is Eleje’s friend and allegedly threatened to deal with her, instigated the whole process.
With the increasing rate of violence against media men in the country, Government at all levels and private media owners have been urged to ensure that perpetrators of violence against journalists during the course carrying out their duties should face the law also they should provide adequate security and insurance against hazards that endanger lives of press men.