Two Nigerian journalists covering the 2013 Africa Cup of
Nations (AFCON) were kicked, dragged on the ground, threatened with cocked guns
and forcibly detained for two hours by officers of the South African police in
Johannesburg on Tuesday afternoon.
Debo
Oshudun, Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) for Central and
Southern Africa and John Joshua Akanji, a Deputy Editor of The Sun Newspapers
were onboard a taxi on their way to cover the departure of the AFCON winners
Super Eagles when shortly after they both alighted, they were surrounded by no
less than 20 fully armed South African police officers who threatened to shoot
them after they insisted they were Journalists.
The
duo, who narrated their story to SportingLife, were grateful to God for sparing
their lives.
“I
thank God we are still alive because we could have been shot, knowing the type
of (extra-) judicial killings in South Africa. I have never been in that
situation in my life. I was dragged on the floor, kicked and brutalised. I and
John Joshua-Akanji were disposed of our phones, my keys and we couldn’t contact
anybody. We were detained for two hours and I was really traumatised throughout
the time the police dealt with us and still imagining it up till now.
“The
police claimed that they stopped our car because the taxi we were in had a
number plate with two different characters. Immediately they stopped us they
removed the number plate. They lied that they had been trailing us,” Oshundun
told SportingLife in Johannesburg on Tuesday afternoon.
Joshua-Akanji
had to miss his South African Airways flight due to the torture he received
from the South African Police.
The
Sun Newspaper Deputy Editor also narrated his ordeal to SportingLife in
Johannesburg yesterday.
“I
was in a trance. I thought I was acting out a movie. I never thought it was for
real. I have never seen a thing like this in all my life. But I am happy to be
alive to tell the story”, the visibly shaken journalist disclosed. 20
policemen, who had already cocked their guns and pointed them to my head and my
colleague Oshundun’s, were shouting ‘I will shoot you, I will shoot you. Who
are you? Do you think you are special? I will blast your brains off’”,
Joshua-Akanji revealed.
Lieutenant
Colonel M. F. Tshabalala station commander, Sandringham Command South African
Police Service, SAPS, later apologised for the treatment meted out on the
Nigeria Journalists.
It
took the intervention of the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg to secure the
release of both men. There are no indications yet, if the Journalists will
press charges against the South African Police.
Source: Sporting Life
59 comments:
Heard it on tv. God really saved dem oh. Dey said d name Nigeria even prompted d harsh treatment. Shey wen we like carrying our matter 2 anoda mans land,y won't dey assume we re all criminals. Lord help dis country.
Am nt surprised... All about south africa has always bin Racial Discrimination
Bloody xenophobic south africans. The journalists should press charges.
Thank God for your life, my friend's hubby Debo Oshundun aka Big Dee.
It seems the police everywhere are the same :(
Dis call for a thanks given seriously...so many people have gone this way...God help us all
Na bad belle dey worry dem. Thank God we won the trophy with or without their support
Lol! Thnk God for life but i think there is more to this story
The police men are just ajegunle agberos. They should be sued in court immediately for that margamized act.
Some system don't recognise what's fair nd not fair ,this is a one in a million cases where people re harrased for being bloody civilian , thnk goodness u came out unscarttered.............
Na wa oh, so much hate for our naija brothers in SA.
Cruelty!! They should just come back home and thank God they are alive, I am very sure the Nigerian consulate over there would have nothing to do about this as usual, smh..
dose SouthAfrican police ar notin but European bull dogs. i kno dey were jealos of our winning d cup, but we rule Africa eniway. D way South iz goin dey might lose all our billateral rship. It was same south dat sent nigeriabs bak on d ground of disease. are dey LEARNERS
WELL THIS IS NOT NEWS, NIGERIAN POLICE WOULD HAVE SHOT THEM AS THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN DISPOSED OF THEIR PHONES, MONIES AND OTHER ITEMS AND LATER COVER UP BY SAYING THAT, THEY ARE ARMED ROBBERS. THAT IS HOW THEY SHOT TO DEATH THAT LAWYER IN LEKKI AND BURNT HIS CAR AND LATER LIED THAT HE WAS AN ARMED ROBBER.
My head is spinning just reading this story..How come we treat foreigners with so much L♥√ع and respect and yet always get this kinds of treatment in return esp when we're out of Nigeria? Those bastards have to pay for this,The journalists should press charges against them..I think south Africans generally are not too different from animals..They're very violent
Pretty Girl
I am waiting to read peoples comments on dis,cos if this were to b a non african country yall wil b screamin "injustice against blacks" by now.so wetin una go call dis one?? Hehehehehe see dem see death!Tank God for ur lives my brothers oo
It may have been harder for them...to ask for Egunje/Roger...abi, wetin dem dey call Roger for SA?
Of course they should press charges straightaway!
74
There is this deep hate south africans have for Nigerians, its not today... My uncle has been a victim, its been happening for a long time. Even in the club, if a dj starts playing Nigerian jams, they beat him up.
When South African policemen handle u,u'll know Nigerian policemen are their brothers keeper.lolz from a friend of mine.
~BONARIO~says so via NOKIA3310
May Amadioha strike down ur panties! Nonsense, which kind transfer of aggression be that?
Pls can they just press charges against them, pls let dem do, enuf of dis brutality on journalists.
I dnt understand ur story linda. Why were the being brutalized in the first place.
Blacks prejudicing Black. What a pity. My JEHOVAH has gotta gba control
Why are south Africans so mad at nigerians? Or do we seem like a threat to them?
This is a result of the weakness we portray to the world. Our people are treated anyhow even in Africa. Nigeria, stand up and reclaim your greatness. This should not be happening to Nigerians. Especially, not after all we did for South Africa during Apartheid and what we have done for Africa as a whole. Our men in uniform are dying in Mali as you read this.
South africans dnt just like nigerians y d beef,I observed their president was even boning when we won d afcon.may God forgive dem afterr giving dem
Most South Africans are sadists!
they are always jealous and threatened by nigerians +their cops believe nigerians are carrying one illegal thing or the other,so their (equally corrupt cops)are always eager to harrass nigerians but still collect bribe in the end o*imagine*
it would have been worse if the cab man wasn't there!wicked pple.
If this had happened in Nigeria, we no go hear word. What happened to the most organised country in africa?
Abeg africans will always be africans wether na Naija or South-African.
Maxwell.
Why do South Africans think they can treat Nigerians as second class citizens? I think Nigerian government should rise up to the occasion.
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Justice must be done! Gbamm!!!! Dey must be charged to court
South Africa no b Nigeria b4 they didn't tell u .they waste human beings like BokoHaram
Nigerians you hate Igbos (igbo will never be president etc) Now Africans and the rest of the world hate you Nigerians. Why are you complaining. Remove the log in your own eyes Nigerians. Stop the hate.
Funny....you can still make a joke of this one. :( SMH
It's glaring this people (SA) are always beefing us. Imaging those people that are directly or indirecty dependent on us, thinking they are too special to associate with Naija. No wonder, their visa is so hard to obtain. Let Nigeria send them to coventry. By that, they will learn their lesson. "A NROJU JEKO OBUN, OBUN TUN DEKO E KERE"
It's glaring this people (SA) are always beefing us. Imaging those people that are directly or indirecty dependent on us, thinking they are too special to associate with Naija. No wonder, their visa is so hard to obtain. Let Nigeria send them to coventry. By that, they will learn their lesson. "A NROJU JEKO OBUN, OBUN TUN DEKO E KERE"
yet mitv wont stop disturbing us with SA tinz.who dey watch am sef?
This Could have easily played out in Nigeria....Nigerian police are no different.
May God punish dem. After all what we did for years back.
In SA they call it *Make a plan*
Nigeria is a very free country.We accommodate any foreigner but we are being treated as animals elsewhere.Nigeria govt is the cause of our calamity,if our country is not as bad as it is.we would gain respect in diaspora
Imagine!..ordinary south africa..see how hungry they look
Black man is wicked evrywhere
I'm really really vexed at this!!!! Absolutely nonsensical! I wish they can press charged and get justice done! Thank God they were not shot. There wouldn't have been someone to live to tell the story. We would have gotten this story all twisted.....MSCHEWWWWWW
i really dont understand this hate on Nigerians. i am in SA but i dont tell them that am frm Naija.the first time i told one of them am Nigerian,the next i heard is ,i hate Nigerians they are crooks,they re this, they are that. na wa ooo
i really dont understand this hate on Nigerians. i am in SA but i dont tell them that am frm Naija.the first time i told one of them am Nigerian,the next i heard is ,i hate Nigerians they are crooks,they re this, they are that. na wa ooo
This news made me remember a day i was chased by South African gangs early in the morning (someone was even asking me how did i run with my Jalabia). South African police hates Nigerians to the extent that if they raided across Gauteng (Pretoria) to be precised, they would separate Naija from the rest of the people (Oto laye wa). So many things are happening in South Africa that even beyond what is happening in Naija.
They can rob u in a broad daylight and people will be passing by (only in SA).
*Second class citizen people in their motherland*
This news made me remember a day i was chased by South African gangs early in the morning (someone was even asking me how did i run with my Jalabia). South African police hates Nigerians to the extent that if they raided across Gauteng (Pretoria) to be precised, they would separate Naija from the rest of the people (Oto laye wa). So many things are happening in South Africa that even beyond what is happening in Naija.
They can rob u in a broad daylight and people will be passing by (only in SA).
*Second class citizen people in their motherland*
You this Fucking Nigerian, you only come to your America in Africa, Africa is too big, u must go back to your country (Amakwerekwere).
It obvious they came for the nigerians, cos d cab is nt their's and they didn't even do anything 2 d cab driver...WTF, first do no dey pain o.
Becoz of the rape cozed by fucking nigerians in our country
Terrible South African police! Wonder which police force is worse, Nigeria or South Africa???!
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Terrible South African police! Wonder which police force is worse, Nigeria or South Africa???!
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Thanksgiving, olodo.... Wasted years in primary/secondary and university, yet u can't spell simple english, smh
Mumu, in someone elses country?
What rape? Southafrican in nigeria r being treated like kings and u have d guts to say nigerians have something to do with rape in ur country? Without nigeria do u thing there would have been a black ruling southafrican state? Nigeria mouted so much pressure on the UN and d international comunities to see an end to apathied and ur so called policemen have d guts to detain nigerian journalists? This should be a wakeup call to the nigerian southafrican ambasador to make sure that they pay for what they did! DSTV,MTN and a bunch of other southafrican companies r here milking nigerians and they can't treat us with a little respect? Shame on the ambasador if he doesn't do smthing abt this.
You ought to be ashamed of urself for not telling them where ur from. If u r not a criminal why shut up? Tell them ur a nigerian and u r not a crook!! I know many nigerians who r up standing and law abiding but will deny being nigerian because some bad apples r giving them a bad name! The biggest gangsters and murderers r armericans and u will see an upstanding armarican citizen being proud of his country! Nigerians had better learn to be proud of where they r from especially the upstanding citizens so that ppl will know that all nigerians aren't criminals.
Rape? R u serious? U call it rape? U bitches are too loose to be raped!
These south africans don dey show themselves too much ah! ah! Is it our fault we are d giants of africa ni? or na our fault say we kicked asses to win the AFCON CUP... Haters.
Thanks for dis reply..they r too loose nd free to b raped..its even the south african men who rape d young innocent one..by innocent I mean ages 0 to 9.lol
I'm an SA journalist married to an SA man. I have met the 2 Nigerian journalists b4. They should sue the cops. What they went thru is not a special treatment reserved for Nigerians only.
My husband also suffered de same, in a case of mistaken identity. Sue them my fellow journos, sue them. We live in fear of those chosen n trained 2 protect us.
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