Armed youths suspected to be political thugs on Friday night stormed a hotel in the Orazi area of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, forcefully disrupting a live television broadcast by Arise Television.
The assailants reportedly cut short the live interview and made away with cameras and other broadcast equipment belonging to the station.
It was gathered that the Arise TV crew were at the hotel conducting a live interview with a former Commissioner for Employment Generation and Empowerment, Dr Leloonu Nwibubasa, when the incident occurred.
The interview, which was airing on News Night, reportedly focused on the political situation in Rivers State. Sources alleged that Dr Nwibubasa’s comments did not align with the political stance of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike, prompting a man at the hotel lounge to allegedly summon the attackers.
A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, alleged that the armed youths invaded the hotel at about 9:15pm.
According to the source, the former commissioner and the Arise TV cameraman narrowly escaped as the assailants, angered by what they described as an anti-Wike interview conducted in their territory, allegedly broke into hotel rooms in search of the duo.
The source said, “They were chanting in their local language (Ikwerre) that they would not allow such interview on their land. They were forcing doors open searching for the former commissioner and the Arise TV guys.
“The workers in the hotel started running helter-skelter. They later got to the spot where the interview was holding and started threatening the former commissioner and the Arise crew to discontinue the interview and forced them to stop.”
Arise TV reporter, Mr Andy Omano, who also escaped the scene, said he immediately alerted the police.
He said, “At that point I called the police control room and also put a call across to some of my colleagues. The police responded and said they were on their way to the hotel.
“The Divisional Police Officer in charge of the area arrived with his men. Together with the hotel manager they ensured that the commissioner and the journalist came down and were taken out of the hotel to the Kala Police Station where they made statemens on what transpared.”
Narrating his ordeal, the Arise TV cameraman, Promise, said the attackers seized his equipment.
He said, “The men seized my tSonny Canada Zed 280, industrial tripod, wireless microphone and other accessories.”
“I had just filed that report before starting with the former Commissioner in a programme called News Night when two men stormed the place and disrupted the live programme.”
Promise added that the attackers fled immediately upon sighting the police.
The former commissioner also confirmed that it took the intervention of security operatives to safely evacuate them from the hotel.
Condemning the attack, Dr Nwibubasa described the incident as a threat to democratic principles.
He said, “I was already rounding off the interview and speaking about the forth-coming 2027 general elections. They (assailants) have are already showing us signs of what will happen. See how they were breaking doors looking for me. Why? This is a free society.”
