Benedict Uwalaka has gone to cover an assignment in a mortuary located inside the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital but he almost ended up being deposited at the mortuary. No thanks to some evil men – staff members of the teaching hospital. The LEADERSHIP senior photojournalist is known for two things: a strong commitment to official assignments and the easy attitude he has towards life.
Lagos is one big city and thriving raw materials market for newspaper production but the ubiquitous Uwalaka is up to the task of covering every potentially newsworthy event in the city of aquatic splendour.
Uwalaka is currently the only photojournalist in the Lagos office of the LEADERSHIP chain of newspapers; yet you probably would never hear him complain of a heavy workload.
From the arraignment of alleged criminals in court to an organised protest against a draconian policy of government to the crash site of an ill-fated plane to an interview with a big fish in the society; from a political gathering to a news making religious event, Uwalaka is certain to effectively cover the assignment for the newspaper group.
In the performance of his duties, this highly experienced journalist does not differentiate between day and night. It does not matter to him whether it is a week day or weekend. Whenever and wherever duty calls you can trust Uwalaka to deliver.
It was this sense of duty that compelled him to be present at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital last Thursday to cover the release of the remains of the deceased victims of the recent Dana Air crash.
But that was a day the unexpected happened to the diligent photojournalist. As a journalist, Uwalaka had been no stranger to reports of maltreatment of journalists by overbearing and unscrupulous security agents. But he never expected he could ever be brutalized in a most savage manner by two staff members of the mortuary located within the premises of LASUTH. Of course, who on earth would expect such barbaric attack from workers in a health institution and caregivers?
Uwalaka was badly beaten by two evil persons; their mission was to send him to his untimely grave. Apart from being beaten and stabbed he also lost his phone and the most important tool of his profession: a PENTAX 30mm zoom lens camera. He was dispossessed of huge sums of money.
His offence was that he dared to take shots on the occasion of the release of those dead bodies. Uwalaka who was still writhing in pains narrated his experience: “I went to LASUTH to cover the handing over of the remains of those who died in the Dana Air crash, to their relatives. And we (journalists) that came were quite many. As they were about giving some people their dead bodies, we tried to move forward. Some of us photojournalists especially Kola Olasupo of Thisday ran to take shots. And I was behind him. They stopped him but I was able to take some photographs. The photograph I even took was that of the ambulance because they brought an ambulance and drove it into the mortuary area.
“They used another vehicle to block the ambulance. Maybe they were trying to prevent journalists from seeing what was happening. But I was somewhere behind Olasupo when I took my shots. As I was leaving I saw them coming and yelling – what did you snap? Show your camera! Bring your camera!
“Immediately I heard that I quickly removed the memory card. A guy in black shirt was in front of them and he was dragging the camera. Then somebody came from the back and hit me. As I turned he equally hit me on the face. So blood was oozing out from me. All of them were hitting me. As they were hitting me the security men were pulling me, saying come, come.
“But others were hitting. I saw one of them and tried to prevent him from hitting me. But he went to pick an object and hit my head with it. I later learnt that it was a bottle that was used. That was what happened.”
Uwalaka explained that his assailants could not be less than four. “You know blood was oozing out of my face. The person I saw clearly was the guy who was putting on black shirt. He was the one who led those that were demanding that I release my camera. So he was the one who was dragging the camera with me until someone came to hit me from the back”, he added.
“This was what gave him the chance to take my camera. They were hitting from everywhere. Someone hit me on the leg and I fell Actually, I don’t know how many but I do not think they were less than four.”
Since this happened Uwalaka’s physical and psychological health had been affected. This much was confirmed to LEADERSHIP by Edith, his wife.
Edith, an accountant by profession told our correspondent that she would want the villains who assaulted her husband to be charged to court.
“I do not feel fine. My husband has been groaning in pains. Even this morning when I looked at my husband’s face I was sad.
“I was crying this morning. He was depressed. And that made me feel sad,” She said.
She asked that the items her husband lost during his ordeal be replaced. Mrs. Uwalaka however said she would not discourage her husband from further practising journalism.
“I cannot discourage him from practising journalism. It is a nice profession,” She said.
It is however a surprise that despite the fact that a report was made to the Area “F” Police station in Lagos immediately after the Uwalaka was battered, no attempt seemed to have been made to arrest the assailants.
This development was what precipitated a petition written on behalf of Uwalaka by a lawyer, Adamu Ibrahim to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umaru Manko.
In the petition, Adamu reminded the police boss that the act carried out by the mortuary workers was criminal and thus punishable under the law. “Permit us to state here sir, that the act of the assailants to wit: threat to life, assault, accessioning harm, battery, being in possession of our client’s camera, smart phones and money forcefully with intent to permanently deprive him of the use of those items amount to a crime punishable under the Criminal Code,” Adamu said.
However, the governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola had apologised for what happened to Uwealaka and assured that the state government would conduct investigation and bring those people to justice.
“It goes back to all I have been saying about law and order. Those are the small crimes. Those are the broken windows, if we do not punish this kind of behaviour very severely it will lead to bigger crimes.
“When you begin to assault somebody in daylight, you can imagine the kind of thing it will get up to without supervision.
If you have no value for human lives even in the open when everybody is seeing you, now where is our love for one another?” Fashola said.
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