A soldier assaulted Olalekan Fakoyejo, assistant business editor with TheCable, on Saturday, May 2, over a remark about traffic obstruction in Ikeja, Lagos State.

Fakoyejo said he was in a tricycle traveling from Ikeja to Ogba when the incident occurred near Pleasant Event Centre, off Ajao Road. Soldiers were directing traffic in the area when one soldier ordered another tricycle rider to climb onto his vehicle as punishment, a move that worsened the gridlock.

Fakoyejo, whose tricycle was caught in the resulting standstill, told other passengers that the soldier’s action was causing the traffic. A soldier overheard the comment, ordered him and other passengers to disembark, and dragged him off the tricycle.

According to Fakoyejo, the soldier demanded to know why he spoke that way and ordered him to report himself to colleagues who were not at the scene. The journalist refused, stating he did nothing wrong and that the soldier had no right to issue such an order.

As Fakoyejo attempted to explain the situation to another soldier who approached, the officer slapped him. A video filmed by an eyewitness showed the soldier repeatedly shoving Fakoyejo and attempting to hit him with a cudgel picked from the ground. During the assault, the journalist’s phone fell and its screen shattered.

Fakoyejo recounted the incident in an interview on Monday, saying the soldier kept pushing him backward toward his colleagues before striking him. 

TheCable confirmed the assault in a report published May 4.