Reps Majority Leader apologises to journalist over alleged assault

Nurudeen Shotayo 16:13 - 13 November 2022

House of Representatives’ Majority Leader, Alhaji Alhassan Ado Doguwa [Muryaryanci]

Doguwa said he never intended to assault the journalist whom he claimed to have known for 30 years.

The House of Representatives Majority Leader, Alhassan Doguwa, has tendered a public apology to a Kano Leadership Newspaper correspondent, Abdullahi Yakubu, for allegedly assaulting him.

The journalist had dragged the lawmaker, representing Doguwa/Tudun Wada federal constituency, to a Kano Magistrate Court over an alleged assault he suffered when he attended a press conference at the lawmaker's residence.

Doguwa had called the press conference to clear the air after being accused of gate-crashing into a recent All Progressives Congress stakeholders meeting in Kano, with the meeting ending acrimoniously.

Subsequently, the court ordered the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police, Zone 1, to investigate the alleged assault case filed by the journalist against the lawmaker.

But, appearing before the AIG on Friday, November 11, 2022, Doguwa claimed he was oblivious to the summon to appear before the police authority over the assault allegation until same Friday when he received the invitation, hence his appearance.

Meanwhile, The Punch reports that the lawmaker, during an interview with Radio Kano on Saturday, November 12, 2022, said he immediately apologised to Yakubu, who who incidentally had been his friend for over 30 years.

Doguwa's word: ‘’I am a trained journalist. Even after my service at the National Assembly, I will still go back to my primary constituency of journalism, hence, I am very sorry over the issue.

‘’It was never intentional because even Abdullahi Yakubu knows the kind of person I am.

"Honestly, if there has been any journalist that seriously promoted my activities so far, it is Yakubu.

"Even in some instances, we write the story together, where I correct him in some of the writeups and we would be happy over the whole scenario.

"Also, in some cases I come up with writeups, he would correct me, saying professionally, ‘this is wrong in journalism.’

"Just like I said earlier, I have known Abdullahi for over 30 years, so with this, I have publicly apologised to him because it was the word assault in the case against me that left me in jittery. Because I am aware of human rights and that of a journalist."

"This is because journalists are like soldiers and police, their job is a front line job. I have a lot of respect for them.”